If there is any evidence of time travel, it is because the creators of 1989’s “Bill – Ted’s Excellent Adventure” have figured out a way to exploit this same goofball magic in a very fake 2020.
After a few decades, Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves, dusting off their guitar and friend talents, return as Bill S. Preston Esq. and Ted “Theodore” Logan for the new hop comedy “Bill and Ted Face Music” (★★★ of four; rated PG-13; available on streaming and video platforms and selected theaters on Friday).
Directed through Dean Parisot with a script through original film writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, Bill and Ted’s third release verifies all the right franchise boxes (real old characters, sweet musical melodies, one-line rad), puts a big stupid smile on your face, but also brings some dignity and intensity to those two ride-or-die friends now in their fifties.
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“Bill – Ted’s Bogus Journey” in 1991 ended with Bill and Ted’s Wyld Stallyns, who gave a triumphant concert, the following years were not good. Now regarded as past – daughters Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine) and Thea (Samara Weaving) are their parents’ biggest enthusiasts – Bill and Ted fight powerfully to write the song meant to unite the world.
What they don’t know is that the melody has to be written, stat, because the whole truth is coming out (Babe Ruth changes positions with George Washington in Valley Forge, that kind of thing). When things seem darker, a messenger (Kristen Schaal) in a capsule of the area arrives to move them forward for centuries.
“They love us completely in the future, man,” Bill tells Ted.
Well, not so much. We tell our heroes that they have 77 minutes and 25 seconds before they’re meant to play this prophesied number or whatever, and that leads Bill and Ted to regroup in the phone booth of the old days and borrow the melody of their long time.
With its vintage comedy “Galaxy Quest”, Parisot has demonstrated a distinct ability to fuse absurd comedy with characters so vivid that they touch your soul, and everything that is effectively presented in “Face the Music”. Billie and Thea are a new and modern reinvention of the style of Bill and Ted and those who are having a perfect adventure this time, going back in time to help their parents and recruit a truly epic band. Bill and Ted’s quest, however, is much more philosophical.
The boys move on to the deal with their indulgent wives (Jayma Mays and Erinn Hayes) at the beginning of the film, but it’s a subject that unfolds more broadly. Bill and Ted necessarily want couples to treat themselves as they navigate a “Christmas carol” situation, visiting other Bills and Teds (from imposing inmates to spasmodic accents in English) to regain their righteous spirit.
Everyone ends up in hell, where Bill and Ted want to chat with the old friend of Bass Death (William Sadler) from “Bogus Journey”. Kid Cudi (playing himself) turns out to know a lot about the space-time continuum, however, the secondary escape character of this tour is Robot (a fabulous Anthony Carrigan), the Android Terminator-esque sent from the long run to kill Bill and Ted, who suffers hilariously from lack of confidence and nervous breakdowns.
While “Face the Music” is the most productive thing when you don’t think about it too much, it’s also a film that knows exactly what it’s about and doesn’t bother to have a moment of lack of sincerity. “Be just with each other” is not a disposable saying, but a mantra considered rooted in the DNA of the film and its stars. Everyone has done their own things in Hollywood (Winter is a documentary director, Reeves is a Keanussance wheel icon), and his Bill and Ted is a duo that feels as essential as ever.