Ok so full disclosure I’m not a big Bill and Ted fan. The first one really didn’t appeal to me and the second was slightly more interesting but still pretty lame in my opinion. I was hoping with new technology and new cast additions, that Bill and Ted Face the Music would be better than the first two. Well, I don’t know if this one is any better or worse than the previous films but I do know it certainly isn’t good. I spent nearly the entire film staring awkwardly as stale jokes went by, realizing that this probably wasn’t going to get much better.
Bill and Ted Face the Music is a comedy – well at least it’s supposed to be. Being a comedy, the ultimate goal is to provide a fairly consistent stream of laughter and unfortunately I only chuckled maybe three times. And what’s even more unfortunate is that none of the times I chuckled were because of Bill and Ted. To be fair to Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, the writing is really bad so they didn’t have too much to work with.
I understand that the style and brand of this franchise is dumb humor… and dumb humor can be funny but this just isn’t. So much of the “comedy” is so lame and cringey that it’s nearly impossible to laugh. Some of the gags they do I just had to roll my eyes and sigh at… just so lame. The big laughs for me came from seeing the awkward reactions from the person I was watching with.
I did mention though that I chuckled a few times and those came from two supporting cast members who were actually pretty funny. Those two actors are Kristen Schaal and Anthony Carrigan. Both of them are able to use their small amount of screen time in Bill and Ted Face the Music to entertain, which is good because none of the others were able to get any laughter at all out of me.
Keanu and Alex just can’t make their screen time entertaining and I’m not sure why they thought this was a good idea. Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine play the daughters of Bill and Ted who are basically exact replicas of their younger selves but gender swapped. Weaving, who I absolutely loved in Ready or Not, doesn’t really get the chance to shine here, mainly because the script doesn’t allow her to but I must commend Paine for nailing the young Bill impression. Bear in mind, while I do commend Paine’s impression, neither she or Weaving get any funny material at all.
It’s really unfortunate that all their stuff is so one note and dumb because they are very talented actresses. Good actors can only do so much to try to overcome truly lame dialogue. No one is immune from that in this film, and unfortunately it’s from start to finish, making the laughs very scarce. The storyline is very simplistic and honestly… boring. If the writing was actually funny then the storyline being overly simplistic/lazy wouldn’t be that much of an issue but here we are.
There’s a definite sense of “sequelitis” here, meaning that this feels slopped together just because for some reason they wanted to make another Bill and Ted film. I think the main problem with this film and the originals is that you can only stretch a one note schtick so far. This film is basically the equivalent of hearing a bad joke over and over and over for an hour and a half. It’s a shame because Kristen and Anthony are pretty good… I hope they get more work. Also, the special effects are pretty good too. If only Kristen Schaal, Anthony Carrigan, and these effects were in a well written comedy. I want to see THAT film! But please…. no more Bill and Ted’s. This needs to end.
Bill and Ted Face the Music is just lame and 100% one note. With the exception of two amusing performances and some nice effects… this is a definite misfire.
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