IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT // A FILM REVIEW OF "BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC"
2020 has brought us a lot of unexpected things. Quarantining for 7 months (so far) is definitely one. Films and theatre going digital all summer is another. And crying at the end of BILL AND TED FACE THE MUSIC is most definitely an unexpected thing. Not that I didn't enjoy the first two Bill & Ted films, because I did. Perhaps it's a bit of nostalgia, seeing two iconic comedy characters back together again. Or maybe, just maybe, we needed Bill & Ted to come back and remind us how to genuinely just have fun and laugh for 90-minutes.
Bill S. Preston Esq. and Theodore Logan (Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, returning perfectly after so many years), are back to making music so that they can save the world. We've seen them twice before, in 1989's Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and the even better sequel Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, which added the wonderful William Sadler as Death (Death returns here as well, thankfully). They've time travelled, died and come back, were lucky enough to hang out with George Carlin, and even brought back two medieval women and married them (Erinn Hayes and Jayma Mays take up the reins of their spouses Elizabeth and Joanna). Now, decades later, they're still the same sweet and lovable goofballs we left in Bogus Journey. Their problems have switched to both of their troubled marriages and still being stuck in a sort of "Arrested Development." They know they have been tasked to save the world with their music, but still haven't written the song that does it. They also now have two most excellent daughters, Thea (Samara Weaving) and Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine) who adore their fathers and love anything they create.
Trouble is brewing in the future though, and Kelly (Kristen Schaal), daughter of George Carlin's Rufus, shows up at Bill & Ted's doorstep to bring them to the future and deliver the song that will save the world. Sadly, when they find out they haven't yet written it, all seems to be lost. So Bill & Ted do what Bill & Ted would do: they steal a phone booth time machine and head into the future to steal the song from themselves. Unfortunately, that's where things go completely haywire. Their wives Elizabeth and Joanna find out that they are going to leave the time traveling duo, so they end up going on a side quest on their own (mostly off screen). Finally, Thea and Billie start seeing the world come apart and know they have to help their dad. So they also set off on a time traveling bender, set on helping their Dad's finish this world saving song. Like fathers, like daughters.
Dean Parisot (who directed the classic Galaxy Quest) takes the director's chair and makes it flow exactly as if it came immediately after the last two films. It helps that two of the original writers (Chris Matheson & Ed Solomon) are back and together they craft a throwback film that earns its right to stand right next to the other two. The jokes are there, the cameos are great and the tone of the film is just right. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter slip right back into the characters they created 31 years ago and their chemistry is still just as strong. Equally impressive are their screen daughters. Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine are perfect casting, with Weaving nailing the spirt of Keanu Reeves' Ted exactly to-the-T. Stealing all the scenes they are in is William Sadler and Anthony Carrigan. Sadler returns as Death, the hilariously snarky bass playing Grim Reaper. Carrigan is new to the Bill & Ted universe. He plays a deadly robot sent to hunt down our time traveling duo. A deadly robot that's also very depressed and hilariously unsure of himself. If you're like me, you'll laugh and when you near the end find yourself in tears. Something as silly and pure as Bill & Ted is exactly what the world needs right now.
GRADE: B+
WRITTEN BY Chris Matheson, Ed Solomon DIRECTED BY Dean Parisot STARRING Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Samara Weaving, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Kristen Schaal, William Sadler, Anthony Carrigan, Erinn Hayes, Jayma Mays, Holland Taylor. Now Playing at Select Theatre and at Digital Cinemas.