Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are back as Bill and Ted, right when the world needs it most. And while we haven't seen these besties in nearly 30 years, they can still teach us a few things about love, friendship, and mutual excellence. Bill & Ted face the music is a joyful, fun, charming adventure and a great reminder of how music can bring us together in times of chaos.
The film opens with the band of the duo Wyld Stallyns performing ... at a wedding. But not just any wedding. Apparently, Missy, the babysitter (Amy Stoch) who married Bill's dad, then divorced him and married Ted's dad, divorced him To marry Ted's brother. Yikes
But that's not the worst. Wyld Stallyns had a brief stint in fame, but in true rock and roll fashion they had an argument with band member Death. Now Bill and Ted experiment with their music and fail. But while the band is trying to regain their former glory, its members seem to have an even more important reason to rock.
Bill and Ted's mentor Rufus (played by the late, great George Carlin) lives only in holographic form, but his daughter Kelly (played by Kristen Schaal) travels to Earth in an egg-shaped pod to tell the boys that they are needed one more time to save us all.
Only Bill and Ted can save the universe with a kick-ass song, though it's a bit unclear how their music will stop destroying space and time. The problem is, the Wyld Stallyns have not been able to come up with a tune worthy of a wedding reception, let alone save the world, and they only have 77 minutes to develop it.
Not inspired to write the perfect song right now, Bill and Ted decide to just jump into their trusted time travel phone booth and steal it from their future selves.
This time they have additional help from their two music-loving daughters Theodora "Thea" Preston (Samara Weaving) and Wilhelmina "Billie" Logan (Brigette Lundy-Paine). They come up with the idea of helping themselves by embarking on a journey back in time via Kelly's eggshell to form the perfect backup band by recruiting legendary musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Mozart.
Before you wonder if there are too many weird elements to make sense, this isn't a Bill and Ted adventure unless there is some craziness. Here is the movie Screenwriters Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson (who also worked on the previous Bill & Ted films) really shine.
Although multiple time machines jump and a mix of historical characters interact with each other and an assassin robot gets on and off, Solomon and Matheson created a script that actually makes sense.
The best parts of the film include the different versions of Bill and Ted in the future, including the guys turning into cheaters, pretending to live in Dave Grohl's house and trying to get our heroes a Foo Fighters song as theirs own to pledge.
The most satisfying comedy highlight of the film is seeing very angry, muscle-bound, tattooed versions of future Bill and Ted in jail. The looks on Bill and Ted's faces today are priceless. This is so close to Ted getting too John Wick as we'll ever see in the movie. I greet the director Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest) for perfectly capturing the comedic moments in this scene, which apparently was filmed in 100 degree weather while the boys were wearing 40 pound rubber muscle suits.
The film has lots of special moments and pop culture cameos that make Bill and Ted fans (old and new) happy that they settled in, but the real joy of the film isn't necessarily the nostalgia. It's the positive attitude that Bill and Ted drain away at every moment. They are delusional optimists indeed, but maybe we could all learn a thing or two about how to accept the best outcome instead of immediately making disaster our standard.
As the world suffers from the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as devastating weather, political unrest and economic pressures, Bill and Ted are back to give us hope. When we work together on positive change, all is not lost. The couple's wise advice to "be excellent with one another" remains timeless.