Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
I know, I know. I have no idea how this happened either. Maybe I just never saw it at Blockbuster or Hollywood Video? Or I did but I ended up going with something else every time? I remember my dad telling me about it as a kid, but apparently I just never had the interest to sit down and watch it. So now, at 23, a friend of mine let me borrow Bill and Ted so I could see it for the very first time.
First off, Bill and Ted are really great characters. They're simple and not in any way three-dimensional, but they're so infectious and likable that they soar past that even being an issue. Their speech patterns, rhythms, and vocabulary are so specific that their legendary status was somewhat inevitable. It also helps that Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are having so much fun playing these guys that their giddiness is almost tangible. Sure, the dumb Californian dude stereotype had been iconically explored seven years earlier in Fast Times at Ridgemont High with Jeff Spicoli, but turning that guy into two guys and then casting them in the lead roles of a wacky sci-fi adventure is still a very original concept, and these guys are far more innocent and naive than Spicoli. I will say that as someone who grew up with Wayne's World, I was shocked by how similar Wayne is to Bill and Ted. I guess there could be arguments made that he's an homage to them, or even a pathetic grown-up version of them, but regardless it's still kind of jarring. Either way, these two have certainly earned their place as an iconic duo.
As for the movie itself, I was pleasantly surprised with both how fun it is and the fact that it actually has a structure. Part of me was afraid to watch this film because I've been burned by watching classic movies that were built up too much before. A consistent example for me is movies like Animal House and Caddyshack, which don't really hold up anymore because they don't have any structure to hold them together. They were a big deal in the 70's and 80's because movies that felt like one giant party hadn't really been done before in the mainstream, but now they just seem like clips that someone is showing me from a party that I didn't get to go to and therefore have a natural disconnect from and don't really care about. Bill and Ted, on the other hand, is warm and inviting, actually follows a story structure, has setups and payoffs, is insanely quotable, and fulfills its promise of being a goofy time-travel adventure many times over, doing so not only by bringing back plenty of famous figures from history, but by also using it as a plot convenience in the funniest way possible. It's technically "dated" in that it's undoubtedly 80's, complete with bad early CGI and near-constant guitar solos, but that actually makes the film all the more fun and, in a way, a part of history in itself.
The supporting cast is great, especially the ones playing people from history. Terry Camilleri as Napoleon has a particularly funny performance, essentially doing nothing but getting pissed off at children for the whole movie. (Slight side note, I love that people like Napoleon and Socrates actually speak their native language instead of just doing goofy stereotypical accents. It makes them all the more authentic and, as fishes, takes them even farther out of water.) George Carlin is used sparingly, which isn't really necessary because he's always wonderful, but he uses what little screen time he has to be memorable and whimsical. Bill's young step-mom is sort of just there to be ogled at, but even that pays off with funny lines ("I think she was a senior when we were freshmen..."). The other example of 80's-ish treatment of female characters is when the two princesses are essentially just rewarded to Bill and Ted for saving the future, but they justify it by having them being saved from "ugly royal dudes" that were going to marry them if they didn't escape, which at least makes it a little better than other 80's movies of this nature. Joan of Arc wants to teach aerobics, which is incredibly strange, but I guess it's because she's good at fighting and therefore enjoys exercise? Or because she's Jane Wiedlin from The Go-Go's? I dunno. But at least they didn't objectify her.
There's really not a whole lot more to say about this. It's Bill and Ted. Maybe one day I'll see their Bogus Journey, but for now I am completely and surprisingly satisfied with their Excellent Adventure.
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