Fans plugged in their air guitars for the most excellent reunion of Ted "Theodore" Logan and William S. Preston Esq, who returned for the final installment of the Bill & Ted trilogy. In Bill & Ted Face The Music, it's been 30 years and everyone's favorite slackers haven't written the song that will save the world and unite reality. If they don't get busy, time and space will cease to exist. Bogus!
The film reunited Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter in the parts that defined their careers, and featured the same time-traveling shenanigans, historical figures, and self-effacing humor that fans have come to expect and love about the Bill & Ted films. It was more than just a walk down the neck of Ted's flying V-- it was clearly a labor of love from all involved, despite a few hiccups involving pacing and some lesser sub-plots. Here's what we loved and didn't totally dig about Bill & Ted Face The Music.
Loved: Keanu Reeves And Alex Winter
Bill and Ted may look a little longer in the tooth, but by no means have they lost any of their zest for life. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter jump right back into their respective roles like no time has ed. They seem to relish every line of dialogue and every slapstick piece of physical comedy.
Reeves particularly seems to relish returning to the role he previously distanced himself from, perfectly replicating Ted's lumbering walk and hair flip. It's a welcome change from the discipline and control he's exhibited the last ten years in the John Wick franchise.
Didn't Love: The Marriage Counseling Sub-Plot
Apparently Bill and Ted needed a greater reason to go back in time than to try to unite the world and save reality. The film gives the pair marriage woes, complete with couples counseling, which Bill and Ted take to mean they should participate in it together with their wives--at the same time.
While the approach is good for a couple of gags (mainly the couples counseling scene with Jillian Bell), it isn't enough to sustain the sub-plot. Their wives--the princesses from the first films--also go back in time to try to find a reality in which they actually enjoy being married to Bill and Ted, but it's never explained how they arrive at their conclusion.
Loved: Billie And Thea
Bill and Ted may have lost their ion for music, and with it their marriages, but they seem to have truly awesome relationships with their daughters, Wilhelmina "Billie" Logan and Theodora "Thea" Preston. Brigette Lundy-Paine and Samara Weaving do an excellent job channeling their dads' infectious vibes, respectively.
Billie and Thea get to undertake the typical Bill and Ted excellent adventure, going back in time to try to create a super group of musicians from throughout every era of momentous music, which they achieve while their dads are off on their own bogus journey.
Didn't Love: The Pacing
The beginning of the film has some difficulty finding its footing, as the leads slip back into their characters and introduce a series of new characters to their adventure. Once Bill and Ted start their journey and their daughters start time-traveling, it picks up the pace.
Overall, the film goes through a series of ebbs and flows, where the pacing seems to drag, only to pick up again. It doesn't seem as consistent as the previous films, but the expectations are higher. If some scenes were extended (like when the daughters are time traveling) and some shortened (like when Bill and Ted encounter several versions of themselves), the pacing might have fared better.
Loved: The Dialogue
Despite their supposed lack of intellectual capacity, Bill and Ted have a gift for combining loquacious verbiage with common '90s parlance, making them the most erudite slackers in cinematic history. There are certain lines of dialogue in the Bill and Ted films that are practically iambic pentameter.
Bill & Ted Face The Music has an equally verbose script, which the leads recite like their own version of Shakespeare. Even without the Bill and Ted-isms, there are certain moments entirely quotable for their brevity.
Didn't Love: All The Time Traveling
Time-traveling is a key component to the Bill & Ted films, just like it is in the Back to the Future trilogy and the Terminator franchise. However, too much of a good thing can make it feel overused, to the point where viewers won't feel it's being used effectively.
The time-traveling becomes gimmicky once Bill and Ted encounter the umpteenth version of themselves, each one lamer than the last. Their best selves aren't even fully mobile, but lying side by side in hospice beds. The scenes with old Bill and Ted blow away all previous incarnations.
Loved: The Message
Bill & Ted Face The Music continues the grand tradition of its predecessors by desiring nothing more than to spread a message of love, happiness, and good music. There isn't anything malevolent in a Bill & Ted film, only good vibes and a wish for humanity to be excellent to itself.
In these trying times, this particular message feels wholesome and genuine. The film took almost a decade to make, and viewers can tell that all involved weren't in it for a quick cash grab, but to make the best vehicle they could to deliver a message of harmony.
Didn't Love: The Special Effects
Surprisingly, the budget for Bill & Ted Face The Music was only $25 million, which seems like nothing in an era when every MCU movie routinely costs over $300 million dollars. That being said, the film was in production for decades, and the special effects seemed sorely dated.
There were certain moments, such as when Bill and Ted first traveled into the future, when the use of green screen was so obvious it was distracting. However, such things can almost be forgiven when fans consider how much of a pay cut all involved had to take to keep the film within its tiny budget.
Loved: References To The Other Films
From the very beginning, when Bill and Ted give a hilarious wedding speech calling out the bizarre exchanging of spouses their families did in the previous two films, to the wonderful homage to George Carlin as Rufus, Bill & Ted Face The Music doesn't skimp on referencing its greatest hits.
And of course the MVP is Death, who appears towards the end as the former--and disgruntled--bassist of Wyld Stallyns, now a low-level manager of Hell. Seeing William Sadler again will fill every fan with a happy sense of gloom. The only way it could have been more complete would have been one visit to the Circle K.
Didn't Love: Dennis Caleb McCoy Sub-Plot
Every Bill and Ted film seems to introduce a new side-kick character to help the two dudes fulfill their mission, and Bill & Ted Face The Music is no exception. Enter the assassin robot with a heart of gold, Dennis Caleb McCoy, played by actor Anthony Carrigan from HBO's Barry.
Dennis is a cross between a Terminator and an iPod, and is both terrifying and ridiculous. He tries to fill the hole left by George Carlin's Rufus, but doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the characters. Because Bill and Ted are such nice guys they are willing to gloss over the fact that he tried to kill them, and he becomes a tag-a-long without much purpose.
