Bill & Ted (film series)

History is about to be rewritten by two guys who can't spell.

BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE (PG)

D: Stephen Herek

Castle Premier/Interscope (Scott Kroopf, Michael S. Murphy & Joel Soisson)

USA 🇺🇸 1989

89 mins

Comedy

W: Ed Solomon & Chris Matheson

DP: Timothy Surstedt

Ed: Larry Bock & Patrick Rand

Mus: David Newman

PD: Roy Forge Smith & Lynda Paradise

Alex Winter (Bill S. Preston), Keanu Reeves (Ted "Theodore" Logan), Robert V. Barron (Abraham Lincoln), Terry Camilleri (Napoleon), Al Leong (Genghis Khan), Rod Loomis (Sigmund Freud), Dan Shor (Billy the Kid), Tony Steedman (Socrates), Jane Wiedlin (Joan of Arc), George Carlin (Rufus)

With the aid of a time-travelling phone booth, two high school slackers abduct historical figures like Joan Of Arc, Abraham Lincoln & Socrates and bring them back to modern day California so they can pass their history essay and not flunk their exams, success of which keeps them together for the sake of their band, Wyld Stallyns, whose music eventually changes the world for the better.

Bill & Ted is virtually a one-joke movie about idiot time travellers which nevertheless amassed a cult audience amongst the MTV crowd of the late 80's and early 90's, when the surfer-dude / stoner character was all the rage, Bill & Ted are a little more innocent than that, and the double act between the two leads works particularly well.

It's all very stupid, but fun & unpretentious nonsense never hurt anybody. Keanu Reeves went on to become an A-list star following the success of the film, but whatever happened to Alex Winter?

6/10

Alex Winter & Keanu Reeves in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Did You Know:

Originally the plot was to have Bill and Ted visit, and therefore accidentally cause, all of history's greatest tragedies (the sinking of the Titanic, the crash of the Hindenburg, the Black Plague, etc.)

Once... they made history. Now... they are history.

BILL & TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY (PG)

D: Peter Hewitt

Columbia Tristar/Orion/Nelson (Scott Kroopf)

USA 🇺🇸 1991

93 mins

Comedy

W: Ed Solomon & Chris Matheson

DP: Oliver Wood

Ed: David Finfer

Mus: David Newman

Alex Winter (Bill S. Preston / Evil Bill / Granny Preston), Keanu Reeves (Ted 'Theodore' Logan / Evil Ted), William Sadler (Death), Joss Ackland (Chuck De Nomolos), George Carlin (Rufus)

The two Californian boneheads from the first movie return in a sequel which sees them killed by two futuristic robot lookalikes.

In the afterlife, the real Bill & Ted must challenge the Grim Reaper to a contest in order to reclaim their souls so they can return to their west coast town of San Dimas to ensure that their rock band, Wyld Stallyns wins the Battle Of The Bands contest and their music creates a utopic future society.

The plot is far more simple than it sounds and the jokes pretty much revolve around the way the two main characters talk (i.e. like idiots) and "surfer dude humour".

Despite gathering a rather large cult following it has dated incredibly badly, more so than the original film, which still holds up as goofy 80's cheese.

6/10

Did You Know:

The evil character from the future is called "De Nomolos", which is Writer and Producer Ed Solomon's name spelled backwards.

BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC (12)

D: Dean Parisot

United Artists/Orion/Endeavor/Hammerstone (Scott Kroopf, Alex Lebovici, David Haring, Steve Ponce, Ed Solomon & Alex Winter)

US 🇺🇸 2020

91 mins

Comedy

W: Chris Matheson & Ed Solomon

DP: Shelly Johnson

Ed: Don Zimmerman

Mus: Mark Isham

Keanu Reeves (Ted “Theodore” Logan), Alex Winter (Bill S. Preston, Esq.), Kristen Schaal (Kelly), Samara Weaving (Theodora Preston), Brigette Lundy-Paine (Billie Logan)

A sequel 29 years after the last Bill & Ted films feels far too late for a continuation of the story, and in all fairness this feels like a loose, lazy reboot.

Now in their mid-age, slacker duo Bill & Ted still haven’t performed their rock music that unites the world and are visited by a guardian of the future who tells them that now is the time to compose it. Too lazy to write it, they use time travel to steal the song from their future selves, whilst their daughters try and find their own way to help for the good of mankind.

The first two Bill & Ted films were far from perfect, but they did capture the attitudes of the late 1980’s & early 1990’s, when MTV was in its heyday. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work in 2020 and film just seems to serve a nostalgic purpose, as well as passing on the torch to another duo.

Fans of the original films may enjoy seeing the same characters back on screen, but there’s very little else to entertain here & it really is mind-numbingly predictable from the opening scene.

4/10

Alex Winter & Keanu Reeves in Bill & Ted Face The Music

Did You Know:
In this film, Kelly is Rufus' daughter. The late George Carlin played Rufus in the first two Bill & Ted films and his real-life daughter's name is Kelly. The "Kelly" role is named as a way to honour Carlin.