Movie Review: Bill and Ted Face the Music

Hello all, and welcome to my review of Bill & Ted Face the Music! 😀

Starring: Keanu Reeves (Ted), Alex Winter (Bill), Brigette Lundy-Paine (Billie), Samara Weaving (Thea), Kristen Schaal (Kelly), Anthony Carrigan (Dennis Caleb McCoy), Erinn Hayes (Elizabeth), Jayma Mayes (Joanna)

Plot (taken from IMDb):

“Once told they’d save the universe during a time-traveling adventure, 2 would-be rockers from San Dimas, California find themselves as middle-aged dads still trying to crank out a hit song and fulfill their destiny.”

Trailer:

Characters:

Keanu Reeves (Ted) – Besties with Bill, on a never ending quest to create the song that will unite the world. Lol, I don’t know if it’s because this is John Wick, but he’s my favorite of the two.

Alex Winter (Bill) – Besties with Ted, on that same journey. Keanu and Alex play off each other really well, and it seems like they genuinely have fun with their roles.

Brigette Lundy-Paine (Billie) – This actress was a perfect mini-Ted, taking on many of his mannerisms, and I absolutely loved her! Billie just wants to play music and help out the dads.

Samara Weaving (Thea) – She did a great job playing mini-Bill, and I loved her too! Thea and Billie make a great team, just like Bill and Ted did in the original movies.

Kristen Schaal (Kelly) – Bill and Ted’s main ally from the future, she’s quirky and fun as she tries to help Bill and Ted find the song.

Anthony Carrigan (Dennis Caleb McCoy) – It starts out looking like he’s going to be this scary opposition to Bill and Ted, since he was sent from the future to try and kill them and all, but he ends up being a lot of fun too.

Erinn Hayes (Elizabeth) – she doesn’t get a lot of screen time, but it’s nice to see how loving and supportive she is of Ted, even if things seem a little rocky at the start.

Jayma Mayes (Joanna) – Same as with Elizabeth, she doesn’t get a ton of screen time either, and seems to be going through the same obstacles as Elizabeth, but it’s still cute to see her interactions with Bill.

Review:

It’s been so long since I saw the first two Bill & Ted movies, not since I was a kid in fact, that I keep confusing Bill & Ted with Wayne’s World, and mixing up which one is Bill and which one is Ted. Lol, I really need to go back and watch the first two Bill & Ted movies.

Lol, I know they are totally different movies, but sometimes my brain just can’t separate them because I watched them around the same time when I was a kid and I feel like they both had a similar feel to them.

As much as I remember getting a kick out of the first two Bill & Ted movies, I was honestly kind of hesitant about seeing this third installment. Recently, I have not been super impressed by the majority of sequels to older movies and reboots of older movies.

Lol, okay, maybe this isn’t just a recent development. More of a feeling that’s been slowly growing over time as I’m repeatedly disappointed by the majority of reboots and sequels.

Mini side rant time!

I’ve been slightly annoyed that new stories aren’t coming out. Why the obsession with sequels and reboots? Not that I don’t enjoy the nostalgia, but it has felt like the market’s been kind of flooded for a while. Or maybe just flooded in the genres I tend to watch most?

While it’s true that there are character archetypes, and certain plot archetypes that are intrinsically tied to each kind of character, isn’t part of the fun taking said archetypes and seeing how far you can stretch and change them, making something new? So why aren’t the people making the movies doing that?

Maybe that’s just the current movie trend? Like when a bajillion super hero movies came out? I mean, they do need to make money in order to keep making more movies, and the goal is to entertain audiences with what people want to see. So maybe they aren’t just running out of ideas, and I shouldn’t worry?

Lol, mini rant aside, I was highly skeptical of this movie, especially because of the Face the Music part of the title. I watched a review of the movie on YouTube by Chris Stuckmann, and that reviewer expressed one of the worries I had perfectly.

He was concerned the movie would be a grittier, more realistic Bill & Ted, and would feel the need to periodically remind viewers that the world sucks right now. But guess what?

That didn’t happen! 😀

“Whoooaaaaa…” I know, right?! This moment needs to be recorded for posterity!

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy gritty realism too, but this movie is neither the time nor the place for it. This is the kind of movie that should be fun, and it certainly is!

When the movie opens, Bill and Ted have been hammering away at trying to create that unknown, predestined song for nearly 30 years. Their kids are totally into the quest, but their wives and the rest of their family members are kind of giving them the side eye about Bill and Ted’s claims. The fact that they don’t have jobs doesn’t help, the general consensus from their extended families being that they need to grow up and set aside their childish dreams, and that kind of gets pushed in their faces several times.

Lol, yeah… this continuing quest doesn’t go over well with anyone but the kids in this wedding scene… Although, I did dig the throat singing. Just saying.

The daughters end up starting their own quest to help their dads, not long after Bill and Ted leave for the future. It’s cute how excited they are about every aspect of helping and finding musicians through the ages.

There is also this little subplot that runs in the background of the rest of the movie, where Bill and Ted and their wives have their first couples counseling session. The wives aren’t exactly unsupportive of the guys, but it’s clear they need something more from their relationships.

Unfortunately, they don’t get too much into it. The wives do some time traveling too, on their own quest of sorts, but without just a bit more insight into what they’re thinking, it feels like a side note. Cute, but you could take it or leave it in the story. It does serve as a motivating factor for the guys though, alongside the general motivation of not wanting time to continue destabilizing.

Lol, I love the comedy in the couples counseling scene, where the therapist just looks like she can’t even with any of them.

And then there was this guy.

Dennis McCoy. Dennis Caleb McCoy.

Lol, for as picky as I am about comedy, there was so much I loved in this movie, and this character is one of them. I love his subtle facial expressions when he knows he screwed up.

With the guys, seeing them interact with various future versions of themselves was hilarious. Especially the prison scene.

I wasn’t sure how they would portray Bill and Ted’s personalities in present day, but they pulled it off well I thought. It’s probably partially because I only had vague memories of the first two movies to go on, but I was afraid it might be more like cringe humor.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s totally nothing wrong with cringe humor! Lol, it’s entirely a me thing that I don’t like it as much.

Probably because I’m pretty awkward myself, I can’t do a lot of cringe humor without wanting to crawl out of my own skin. I get sympathy pain and end up watching the movie through my fingers the same way I do horror movies, lol.

I really didn’t feel that way at all though. It was just fun. 😀

I even liked the kind of over-arching message at the end about uniting people together. It didn’t feel heavy-handed, as some movies unintentionally do when trying to convey a message.

I think they wrapped things up nicely, and it was fun to watch.

“Be excellent to each other.”

My rating for Bill & Ted Face the Music: Cash-Worthy – From start to finish, this was a lot of fun, and just the kind of feel-good, easy-going comedy that seems so refreshing (to me at least) during all the crazy in the world right now. And it also didn’t fall victim to the current death spiral trend of sequels and reboots. That’s a win all around I think! Check this one out if you liked the first two Bill & Ted movies or feel-good comedies in general. 😀

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My Rating System:

Epic: This movie is so mind-bogglingly awesome that I may go see it twice. This one will have a place of honor on my shelf.

Cash-Worthy: Good stuff. This will most likely find a place on my shelf.

Not Bad: I liked it. I’m glad I saw it, and it may or may not end up on my shelf at some point. I would say rent it first to be safe.

Meh: Rent it first. You may love it or hate it, but I’m indifferent probably because it’s not my type of movie. I’m glad I saw it, but it won’t end up on my shelf.

Emergency Cake: I have an emotional reaction to movies sometimes, especially to tragedies. If a movie makes me sad or angry, sometimes it will stick with me for a while. At these times, only chocolate cake can save me. Chocolate cake makes everything better. No shelf for you. Ever.

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