“Bill & Ted Face the Music” is a wonderful distraction from the challenges brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic. Though many viewers are now watching the film at home, this movie takes the audience on an excellent adventure as the characters travel through time, go to hell and back and save the world.
One of the things that “Bill & Ted” movies do better than anything else is capturing satirical “bro humor,” and the newest of the threequel is certainly no exception. Each scene provokes laughter, not because the joke was funny, but because the dialogues are unbelievably stupid. But amazingly, this is one of the few cases where that is a good thing.
The film begins with Bill and Ted, who are now middle-aged fathers to daughters who act exactly like them. They are tasked, yet again, to save the world with the power of music in a time travel adventure that takes them to both new and familiar places.
One thing to note about the “Bill & Ted” series is that it takes place in San Dimas, California, which is just 10 minutes away from Cal Poly Pomona. This is one of the reasons why Bill and Ted are relatable, since every one of us knows someone exactly like them.
In the previous films, despite their low budget, the acting was always top-notch and boasted excellent set design — though the special effects now feel dated. This new movie certainly embodies these positive traits, with the addition of CGI that neither helps nor harms the movie.
The style of dialogue and the characterization of Bill and Ted also remains exactly as it was back in 1989 when the first movie released, which makes sense, considering the number of original cast members who returned to work on the new film.
Main roles from the previous series like Keanu Reeves (Ted) and Alex Winter (Bill), along with minor characters like Hal Landon Jr. (Chief Logan) and William Sadler (Death), made an appearance. The cast’s passion was apparent throughout the movie, which makes it stand out among the many other nostalgia-heavy sequels that seem to solely focus on profiting off of the reboot.
Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, the screenwriters who also wrote the original two movies, succeeded in making the new movie equally as entertaining as the previous two. The humorous tone feels familiar and well thought out, and the themes stay true to the original.
Time after time, comedies are becoming worse because they try so hard that they end up missing what humor really means. “Bill & Ted,” however, exceeds expectations. Somehow, director Dean Parisot succeeds to make the latest installment in this low-budget series funnier than a comedy with a $100 million budget.
“Bill & Ted Face the Music” is the perfect movie to satisfy the nostalgia from the 1990s with just the right amount of humor to be entertaining all the way through.
The movie is now available on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Fandango Now, YouTube and several other streaming services.
