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Damn, we’ve been on a bit of a losing streak, haven’t we? Just stinker after cinematic stinker over the last couple of days. There’s no one to blame for this except for my own self either, and believe me I tried. So how about we take a break from the gloomy, psychologically disturbed explorations of guilt that we’ve been tackling, and go for some lighter fare. Cleanse the palate, if you will. And I think I know just the right aperitif for the job.
In Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Alex Winters and Keanu Reeves star as Bill S. Preston esq. and Ted “Theodore” Logan, two air-headed teenagers living in San Dimas California in the year 1988. Bill & Ted have big dreams of rock and roll stardom with their band Wyld Stallyns (despite not having the equipment or musical ability), but those dreams are put in danger when the reality of failing history class, and flunking out of high school, rears its ugly head. When the outcome seems bleak, the pair are greeted by a strange man named Rufus (George Carlin) and his equally strange phone booth. As it turns out, Rufus is a time traveller, his phone booth a time machine, which he offers to the two teens to help prepare for their make-or-break oral report the next day. Although why study history, when you could just hit up the time stream, grab a few historical figures, and have them due the talking for you? A most excellent plan indeed.
Gotta say, it’s pretty ballsy to release a time travel comedy in the 80s, considering the undisputed kings of the field had released its second installment the very same year. Bill & Ted manage to get away with this though, because of how profoundly unserious it takes the world. Back to the Future, although it was a comedy, was also a drama. Marty’s quest to unite his parents, Biff’s altering the timeline, there are stakes to what’s going on. In Bill & Ted things are much more laissez-faire. Bill & Ted don’t care about paradoxes, they’re walking around history in flannel and shorts, snatching people out of time, letting them play around with future stuff, just do whatever man, it’s all good. While there are stakes, much bigger than BttF technically, the goals of the protagonists are much simpler, and so Bill & Ted have the freedom to be much more absurd and irreverent than Marty McFly is in his film.
I think it also helps that Bill & Ted are pretty likable as far as protagonists go. They’re dumb to be sure, their goals are banal, but they’re not malicious. They’re not taking advantage of their gift to screw others over, they’re just trying to pass a class so they don’t have to break up their shitty garage band. Simple guys who make good by the end of the film, so it’s not hard to root for them. Both of them too, which isn’t always the case when it comes to buddy comedies. I mean did anyone really like Abbott over Costello? Or Butthead over Beavis?
What else should I mention…? There’s several musicians in the cast, including Jane Wiedlin of the Gogo’s and Clarence Clemons of the E Street Band. Better than the bands that are actually on the soundtrack, which you would think would take priority given the importance of music in the film, but hey, wasn’t my call to make. Maybe Extreme was the next big thing in 1989, I don’t know.
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure gets the nod from me. An accurate title if ever there was one. Also the first part of trilogy as of a couple years ago, so maybe one day I’ll review all three. Until then, if you’re looking to take a short break from the creeps, put this. Or perhaps I should say chills, because that whole thing with Bill’s dad and his stepmom is kind of creepy.
STATUS: RECOMMENDED
