BEFORE: Wow, I've been sitting on this one for almost a year - I had saved a slot for it several times last year, between two Keanu Reeves movies, and I think again between two films with Kid Cudi in them. But I would have either had to GO to the movie theater in August (which just wasn't recommended) or pay like $25 to see this on demand, and that just seemed too high - and then by the time the film made it to premium cable, my chances to link to it had fallen by the wayside. Then, of course, I did a Keanu Reeves chain in February, but I felt this film just wouldn't fit in there, so I'm glad I found a home for it here today.
BUT, all good things come to those who wait, right? When I saw the chance to sneak this one into the chain between my Father's Day film and my July 4 film, I just had to take it. So Beck Bennett carries over from "Brigsby Bear". (I could probably have snuck in "The Mitchells and the Machines" here, also with Beck Bennett, but again, I just don't have the time if I'm going to hit July 4 on the nose.)
A few weeks back, I tried to list all the celebrities I've had random encounters with over the years, and I'm fairly sure I included "Weird Al" Yankovic on that list, after working for the man who animated two music videos for him, our office staff (3 people) was invited to see his concert at the Beacon Theater in 2011, on Al's birthday no less, and we got to attend the post concert Meet & Greet, I keep the photo of Al & me on my. phone, and I show it to just about everyone. But this film reminds me that I forgot to mention two people I also met - I went to a book signing at Barnes & Noble and got George Carlin to autograph a book, and then one time I rode in an elevator with Alex Winter, who at the time lived in the same NYC building as my boss. I tried very hard to not think of the elevator as a time-traveling phone booth, but such a thing was impossible to do.
THE PLOT: Once told during a time-traveling adventure that they'd save the universe with their music, two would-be rockers from San Dimas, CA find themselves as middle-aged dads still trying to crank out a hit song and fulfill their destiny.
AFTER: You know, I really needed this film to be good - the last film that I rated over a "6" was "Bohemian Rhapsody", and that was over a month ago. And I think this was a good film, provided you don't try to take it too seriously - God knows the filmmakers and actors sure didn't, but that's kind of refreshing in a way. Instead of struggling to make a "great" film, which is always a difficult prospect, especially when trying to revive a franchise, they got the next film MADE, which in many ways is more important. It's been an on-again, off-again thing for DECADES, the "Bogus Journey" sequel came out in 1991, and that's THIRTY years ago now. ("Station!")
We're at that point in cultural history where everything old needs to be new again, in some way, and some people are desperate for the next James Bond film, or the "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" revival, or, Jesus Christ, any Marvel movie, "Black Widow" or "Spider-Man: No Way Home" or even "Shang-Chi" at this point. The "Dune" remake? Sure, bring it on. The "Suicide Squad" sequel? OK, I'm listening. "Fast & Furious 9"? Well, I'll take a pass but I'm sure that SOME people somewhere are enjoying it, or at least watching it. So they couldn't wait for theaters to fully re-open, they went ahead and released "Bill & Ted 3" in August 2020 - but also on people's TVs and computers if there was still hesitancy over going out to theaters. I get it.
SPOILERS AHEAD, please be warned - stop here and go see "Bill & Ted Face the Music", if you haven't already. I can't talk about the film without giving some stuff away, and I just can't be held responsible if you're not in the know.
In a very funny and ironic way, the ongoing attempts to make another "Bill & Ted" film are mirrored in the characters, Bill and Ted have been trying for decades to write that spectacular song that's going to unite the universe and bring harmony to everything. Allegedly. But their band broke up, Death went and released a solo album, and they had to sue him just to regain the rights to use the name "Wyld Stallions" again. Three decades on, Bill and Ted are still married but both marriages are a little shaky, they each have a teen daughter, Billie and Thea (also conveniently nicknamed Bill & Ted) and they can count the number of loyal fans they still have on one hand - they can even name all of them, not good.
Once again, they're called out by the Elders of the Future, including Rufus' widow (one presumes) who is the Great Leader, and his daughter, one of whom wants to give them the opportunity to write that unifying song (in the next 72 minutes, which also happens to be the amount of time until the closing credits roll) and the other one wants to kill them, thus possibly saving the galaxy from ruin, or dooming it, this is all a bit unclear. Feeling not up to the task creatively, because writing that killer song sounds like WAY too much work, and under pressure to get it done, Bill and Ted decide to visit future versions of themselves, to see if they can borrow a copy of the song that they haven't written yet, but those other us'es already have. Genius, right? And it's not stealing if they give the song to themselves - and this is a thinly veiled version of the time-travel paradox about someone in the future who builds a time machine going back in time to give the plans for a time machine to a younger version of himself, or to someone else - so, then, who really invented the time machine?
They find out why you should never, ever interact with yourself while you're time-traveling - first of all, there's the possibility you might kill a younger version of yourself (or kill your father), which would be another paradox, and the older you killing the younger you would be a form of suicide - umm, maybe. But also the older you has a memory of what the younger you encountered, so that you is always going to be one step ahead, should the two of you not get along and come into conflict. It happens, I guess. The 2020 Bill & Ted encounter the 2022, 2025 and then really really old versions of themselves, and of course, it doesn't go well, as the rules of comedy dictate. Meanwhile the older versions of their wives are taking the current versions of their wives on a tour of parallel universes, desperately looking for one in which they're happy and able to work through their commitment issues and that proper balance of relationship with saving the world through music.
Also meanwhile (if meanwhile means anything to time-travelers, which it really doesn't) Bill & Ted's daughters are on a quest of their own, to find great musicians throughout history to sample and maybe inspire their fathers in the art of totally excellent songwriting. They meet such figures as Jimi Hendrix, Louis Armstrong, Mozart and more, essentially mirroring their father's quest from the first Bill & Ted film, where they had to find historical figures for their live school oral report. And it really doesn't take a genius to figure out what the dramatic twist is going to be here, but the film follows the "always darkest before the dawn" formula by killing everyone off and sending them to hell, which of course is another shout-out to the second film, "Bogus Journey".
Their only hope is to find Death again, and convince him to rejoin the band - which could be a good thing. And the whole time/space continuum is breaking down, historical figures are disappearing from their proper times in history and re-appearing in 2020 - but if you think about it, what better way is there to get the new Wyld Stallions song to resonate across all of human history, if they can ever get the damn song written, that is? It's very clever here how every negative thing that happens ultimately becomes a positive or some kind of shortcut to a positive result. Kind of like how it took WAY too long to get this sequel made, but then that also allowed them to poke fun at the delays in the creative process within the film itself. Way to turn things around, guys!
Also starring Keanu Reeves (last seen in "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee"), Alex Winter (last seen in "The Borrowers" (1997)), Kristen Schaal (last seen in "Going the Distance"), Samara Weaving (last seen in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, MIssouri"), Brigette Lundy-Paine (last seen in "The Wilde Wedding"), Anthony Carrigan, Erinn Hayes (last seen in "Rumor Has It..."), Jayma Mays (last seen in "American Made"), Amy Stoch, Holland Taylor (last seen in "Bombshell"), Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi (last seen in "Drunk Parents"), William Sadler (last seen in "The Highwaymen"), Jillian Bell (last seen in "Fist Fight"), Hal Landon Jr. (last seen in "Pee-wee's Big Holiday"), DazMann Still, Jeremiah Craft, Daniel Dorr (last seen in "20th Century Women"), Sharon Gee, Patty Anne Miller, Kelly Carlin, Jared Bankens (last seen in "Venom"), Mickey Gooch Jr. (last seen in "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot"), Billy Slaughter (ditto), William E. Harris (last seen in "Elvis & Nixon"), Kimberly Stockton, Bridget Andrews, Ned Yousef (last seen in "Shock and Awe"), with cameos from Dave Grohl (last seen in "Sound City"), "Weird Al" Yankovic (last seen in "How to Be a Latin Lover", Guillermo Rodriguez and archive footage of George Carlin (last heard in "Tarzan 2: The Legend Begins").
RATING: 7 out of 10 prison tattoos
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