Walking out of Bill & Ted Face the Music, I was making a mental list of adjectives that would best describe the movie. 1) Adequate. 2) Satisfying. 3) Goodish. 4) Sufficient, though not entirely necessary.
I was trying to figure out how to explain my general feelings of apathy. Finally, I came to the conclusion that if someone gave me a boxed set of the Bill & Ted trilogy, I would not be mad. I wouldn’t just keep the first two discs and throw out the third in a blind rage. This isn’t the Matrix sequels. Or Batman and Robin. This isn’t The Rise of Skywalker.
Bill and Ted Face the Music isn’t a bad movie. Not by any measure. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter once again inhabit these roles like they would a pair of well worn gloves. They me be older, a little doughier, but they remain as pitch perfect as ever. Both Brigette Lundy-Pain and Samara Weaving are wonderful additions as the younger B. and T. There’s enough fan service to keep even the casual fan invested. And while the plot and its resolution are as formulaic as they get, everyone here is so completely committed to this effort that you can’t help but be caught up in the excitement. At least for those 92 minutes.
After that, however, I can’t guarantee that you’ll be left with much to say or think about. (And I don’t mean that in a Tenet kind of way. Not every movie is designed to keep you up at night.)
If you’re happy with just being distracted from the world for that period of time between the title card and the post-credits tag, then this movie is plenty. If you’re looking to Bill and Ted as some sort of cultural touchstone with something to say about the world, then you might be left a little wanting. (Which, mind you, isn’t an unwarranted expectation. The first two movies did have an indelible impact on many an aimless youth.)
Now, I know that it would be impossible to recapture the magic of those first two movies. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure was lightning in a bottle. It was a moment of creative brilliance. Writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, were somehow able to create and capture something beautiful, powerful, and elusive, and hold on to it for just long enough to show it to the world.
Bogus Journey, while nowhere nearly as smart as their first outing, was still pleasantly surprising. By making it a coming of age story that centred around death (pretty deep stuff for a teen comedy), by speaking directly to the fans of the first movie, Matheson and Solomon managed to address the fears and anxieties of a generation of shirkers that were trying to figure out what do to next.
The problem with Bill & Ted Face the Music is that it isn’t quite as astute.
The title of this movie might give you the wrong idea. It isn’t in any way judgement day for Bill and Ted. There isn’t some great reckoning that’s about to befall them. They aren’t quite facing the music in the metaphorical sense.
Instead, we find our two heroes exactly where we thought we would. At the very bottom of their arc of success, still struggling to come up with that one incredible piece of music that will unite the world. They’re still developmentally arrested. Their wives are neglected and unsatisfied. And their daughters – who are clearly better at the whole music thing than they are – are so enamoured by Bill and Ted that they’ve failed to realise their own talent.
To make things worse, a visitor from the future (Rufus’ daughter no less) whisks them away to the 28th century, where the Great Leader tells them that they only have 78 minutes to come up with that elusive song. Or it would mean the end of existence as we know it.
Time traveling hijinks ensue.
There are a few clever conceits here. And giving our heroes only as long as the runtime of the movie to complete their mission is the cleverest. It is more than just a fun meta-joke, and actually serves to move the story along at a jaunty pace. It is also an incredibly cunning way to get you invested in their timeline and draw you into the story. More so for one that involves time travel.
The other piece of cleverness is in the way the filmmakers handle that final song to end all songs. These are, after all, impossible stakes. How do you satisfy an audience who has spent the better part of 90 minutes waiting for a song that will conceivably save all of time and space? How do you deliver on such a promise? By using a clever bait and switch and not actually making it about the song.
None of it, unfortunately, made up for the emptiness I felt at the end. After all of it was done and dusted, and after the most abrupt of endings, Bill & Ted Face the Music left me with no strong feelings towards it at all.
As much as I loved watching Reeves and Winter, as much as I enjoyed the relationship they had with their daughters, I left this movie feeling that it somehow failed by not having Bill and Ted say something about our 21st century. They may have been out of time, but they could have still been timely.
Three decades ago, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter embarked on a most excellent adventure. One that traversed time and space, from ancient Greece to the very depths of hell itself. They’ve saved the life of Billy the Kid. They’ve married princesses from 15th century England. They’ve fought evil robot versions of themselves. They’ve even defeated Death (at Battleship).
Bill and Ted have done it all. Which is why Face the Music should have been more than just a victory lap. They deserved better than just a greatest hits collection.
I’m glad this movie exists. It serves as a fitting conclusion to the lives of Bill Preston and Ted Logan. It is well meaning. It is good natured. It captures the spirit of the series. I just kept wishing that it was a little more.
Bill & Ted Face the Music
92 minutes
Director: Dean Parisot
Writers: Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Kristen Schaal, Samara Weaving, Brigette, Lundy-Paine, Anthony Carrigan, Erinn Hayes, Jayma Mays, Holland Taylor, Kid Cudi, William Sadler, and Jillian Bell
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