Premise: Bill and Ted, with the help of their daughters, travel through time again when they realize the future they were fated for has gone off course and could lead to the end of the world.
The Bill & Ted movies aren't sacred texts for me. I saw parts of them when I was younger but only watched them in proper in the last decade as part of my Club 50 project*. They are fun movies. Very silly. Part of a movement with Wayne's World of spaced-out protagonists who are either burned-out remnants of the late 70s or innocent forefathers of the Gen-X rebellion to come in the 90s. It's fun to look at the movies from the Keanu Reeves perspective**. They gave him the boost in fame he needed for blockbuster roles, however the memories of Ted dogged him for years with critics who didn't care for him. It's not that he was typecast. Rather, anytime someone didn't like him in another movie, they could go straight to saying that he brought too much Ted to the role.
*Seeing the top 50 grossing movies of each year since I was born.
**Alex Winter is just as good in these movies but, frankly, his career is less interesting.
There is no reason for Bill & Ted Face the Music to exist. The series is an artifact from 30 years ago and could've been left there. Here's why I don't mind though: Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves wanted to do it. Kind of like Dumb & Dumber To a few years ago, there's no reason for the movie. The type of humor doesn't really hold up. Winter and Reeves are too old to still be doing this. Reeves in particular does not need this for his career. No one is doing this to salvage something. That means everyone is going into this to have fun. What better reason is there to make a Bill & Ted movie? There's some quality control because Winter and Reeves wouldn't make the movie just to make it. And there are 30 years of performers waned on Bill & Ted movies, eager to take part in this one. If the movie is a bloated mess, isn't that what the original movies were anyway?
So yeah. Good movie. It captures the anarchic spirit of the original movies. Winter and Reeves jump into the roles wearing their middle age well. They basically look like men in their 50s trying to pass for men in their 20s. I 'm sure the actors know how ridiculous that looks. Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine are really good as their daughters. I wouldn't want to see a movie starring them in the roles, but they are great as a secondary adventure. I suppose recasting Elizabeth and Joanna was inevitable, and I'm glad Erinn Hayes and Jayma Mays got to have some fun. I suppose the now 12-14 year age gap between them and Bill & Ted doesn't track if you think about it. Bringing back William Sadler as death was a must. Adding Anthony Carrigan and Kristen Schaal worked.
I don't have any complaints about this movie that wasn't true of the first two. It's not quite my style of humor. Otherwise, it's true to the spirit of the series and a welcome return.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
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