Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure | Teen Ink

Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure MAG

By Anonymous

   "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" supplies about three laughs, total, and wastes a clever idea for a movie with stupid lines, and a haphazard script. The movie does not aim for an Academy Award, but even so it lacks the obvious punch that it looks for. The main two characters, Bill and Ted (of course) dash to different times in history, picking up important historical figures on the way. The teenagers take Napolean, Beethoven, Freud, Genghis Khan and others, on their way to acing their history report. They do not usually worry about such reports, but when confronted with failure, they are willing to travel back in time. The characters of Socrates, Lincoln and Billy the Kid (all of whom were kidnapped as well), are extremely superficial, and the only things that these characters have in common with the actual historical figures are their names and clothes. The characters don't mind being carried ahead in time, and in fact enjoy it, adapting completely within five minutes of their capture. The film is full of moments when Bill and Ted remark "Bogus!" or "Excellent!", and the audience is supposed to break up in laughter. Sorry, but the lines just aren't funny. And if there was a real-life Bill or Ted, they would definitely find this movie "bogus," extremely so.





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This article has 2 comments.


i love this so much!

lonetune said...
on Nov. 29 2014 at 9:27 am
I think this review is the result of a critic who does not understand what he is critiquing very well.   In the interest of being constructive here are some major issues with the opinion pined in this "review", though it's more of a blurb, which is strike one. There isn't really any information that supports what you're saying. This matters because much of what is being said requires support in order to be taken seriously.   This sentence: "The only things that these characters have in common with the actual historical figures are the names and clothes." Absolutely incorrect. The film actually contains a surprisingly high amount of very sophisticated and clever humor.   To say the lines aren't funny, in my humble opinion, is absurd. None of the dialogue can really be taken seriously, but that's also the point. The film is very post-modern in it's highly referntial humor, as well as it's surreal disregard for any adherence to reality. In fact, one could arge it is a surreal representation of the way two stoners perceive their pathetic reality, though that's a highly extra-textual claim.   Take for instance the fact that every single character in the film is a stereotype. Both fathers are cliche'd scumbag/hardass dads that are easy to hate. There is the student body that apes high school tropes, as well as the stern but kind black teacher who is there to lend some paternal tough love as well as a healthy dose of reality.   The entire film really only exists so that the directors can make remarkably stupid jokes, that exist only for the absurdity of making them. Was Freud chosen so that they could make an Oedipal joke at the end that is so funny it hurts? Absolutely. Beethoven is clearly only chosen so that he can provide some cheesy 80s rock accompaniment (which comes packaged with a hilariously dumb joke about Bon Jovi) and to make obscure references to "Beethoven Lives Upstairs". Socrates is in the film solely so that the filmmakers can make a disgustingly stupid "Days of our Lives" reference. Napolean is only here to make a Waterloo joke that is probably so original that it's shocking in it's childish simplicity. The list continues.   If you don't think the absurd eloquence of Bill ("We are destined to fail most egregiously", "Excuse me, would you happen to know if there are any personages of historical significance around here?")is funny, I'm not sure you understand irony. Beyond this, Alex Winter's performance is so good that it's a crime he didn't become a star. His facial expressions are absolutely show stealing, in that they tonally are always on point, reflect the chracter perfectly and are off the wall crazy and idiosyncratic. And Keanu is pretty damn funny too.   Considering the time in which it was made (as well as the admirable refusal to endorse or portray any drug use, despite it's obvious implication, making the film much more subversive), Bill and Ted is extraordinarily meta, and you can see a lot of comedies today, especially on places like adult swim and FX, that similarly exist and are clear spiritual descendents.   Lastly, the film is surprisingly good aesthetically. The camera work is solid, and the sets and costumes are appropriately Lynchian and the lighting is very stylized.   I can support any argument further upon request but I don't want to ramble any more than I have.