Reviews (105) 
FUNNIEST MOVIE MADE IN THE 1980'S
I LOVE THESE CRAZY GUYS, THEIR (PIPED IN) AIR GUITARS AND THE FUTURISTIC RELIGION THEY UNWITTINGLY ESTABLISH AS A RESULT OF THE MUSIC OF THEIR (VERY UNTALENTED) BAND-- THE WYLD STALLYNS!!! IT REALLY DOESN'T GET ANY FUNNIER THAN THIS!
UNDER PRESSURE OF FAILING HISTORY CLASS, AND HAVING TO ATTEND A MILITARY ACADEMY, BILL AND TED RUN HEADLONG INTO A GUARDIAN ANGEL FROM THE FUTURE, WHILE HANGING OUT AT THE LOCAL CIRCLE K, TRYING TO DECIDE HOW TO PASS THEIR CLASS. FROM THERE, THEY GO ON A MISSION IN A TIME-TRAVELING TELEPHONE BOOTH, WHICH TAKES THEM ALL THROUGH AN AMAZING VARIETY OF "HISTORICAL" TIMES AND PLACES, MEETING UP WITH SOME AWESOME "MEDIEVAL BABES" ALONG THE WAY. (THE "HISTORICAL BABES" END UP BECOMING THE NEXT TWO MEMBERS OF THE BAND WYLD STALLYNS IN THE END!!! HAHAHHA) ON THEIR EXCELLENT ADVENTURE, THEY PICK UP NAPOLEAN, JOAN OF ARC, SOCRATES (THEY PRONOUCE IT "SO-KRATES"), BEETHOVEN, BILLY THE KID AND A FEW OTHER HILARIOUSLY UNSTUNNED HISTORICAL FIGURES, ALL OF WHOM TAKE THE JOURNEY AS THOUGH IT WAS NOTHING TOO OUT OF THE ORDINARY. (THIS, IN ITSELF, IS FUNNY!) I WON'T GIVE AWAY THE ENDING, WHICH IS VERY FUN AND MAKES FOR A GREAT SHOW FOR BILL AND TED'S FELLOW-STUDENTS AND TEACHERS, WITH ALL OF THE HISTORICAL CHARACTERS ACTING OUT THEIR PARTS IN AN
"A-WINNING" SCHOOL PRESENTATION. BUT THE REAL FUNNY PART IS THE ADVENTURE ITSELF!!! GOTTA SEEE THIS ONE!!!
Its about time! (Literally)
Finally, one of THE funniest movies ever made is coming to DVD. This is one of the movies that helped launch the career of now mega-star Keanu Reeves, and spawned a bunch of copy-cat movies like "Wayne's World" and "Dude, Where's MY Car?", but this was the original DUDE movie! Dim-witted high school friends Bill & Ted don't realize they are destined to be the great ones who will change the course of the world through their music, bringing about world peace (as well as clean air, and more excellent water slides than any other planet we communicate with!) Right now, they have to pass history! With help from cool futuristic dude Rufus and a time-travelling phone booth, they travel back in time to assemble the greatest historical figures for the greatest history report of all time! Its a hilarious romp through the past and present (and you may learn a thing or 2). Wyld Stallyns rules!
Misadventures In Time & Space
* BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE (B&TXA) is a low-budget,
derivative, silly film that shamelessly panders to its teen-age target
audience; it represents nothing new in film-making; and is blatantly
commercial.
I really liked it. The plot is simple enough. Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reaves)
are two California kids who want to become famous rock stars. There's
only one problem: they can't play their instruments. Well, actually,
there's two problems: they're both complete boneheads, and their
hardnosed history teacher tells them that if they *don't* pass their
oral history report, they *will* flunk out of school. This oral
report involves imagining what historical personages would've thought
of the present day and the local environment. Not too demanding, but
it's still above the ability of these two, and if they flunk, Ted's
sourpuss dad intends to send him off to a military academy in Alaska,
separating the two friends, probably forever. Fortunately, the society of Earth 700 years from now has a special
interest in them, and an agent (George Carlin) is sent back in a time
machine (shaped like a phone booth -- a normal one, not an
old-fashioned British police box) to help out. So Bill and Ted have
in their hands the best possible tool for conducting hands-on
historical research. This sounds silly, and it is, and all the unkind things I said above
about this movie are true. That leads to the question: What saves B&TXA? Simple enough: Bill and Ted. These two guys don't look like
they have the collective mental energy to make a nightlight glow.
They don't actually have to *do* anything to be funny. You laugh at
them even if they're just *standing* there. Though when push comes to shove, it turns out they can be quite
resourceful. Like a lot of teenagers, they just need to get
motivated. It's hard not to like them, since they're about as
good-natured kids as you're likely to find. Bill has the initiative,
willing to take risks without hesitation because he doesn't have a
clue of what he's getting into. Ted is a born romantic, a sweet-faced
kid who all the girls think is really cute. Any time he sees a
good-looking girl his heart leaps into his throat and stars flicker in
his eyes. The story, like I said, is silly, but silliness is hardly a critical
term when applied to a comedy -- and it does have its moments, such as
Napoleon at the water slides, and Genghis Kahn ... well, I won't say
any more. It certainly does pander to teenagers: nearly all the
adults are creeps or morons, and the kids turn the tables on them in
the end -- but it also made me feel wistful. I didn't have fun being
a teenager and this film suggests to me in its own bizarre way that it
could've been more fun than it was. The only thing I can seriously
say against B&TXA was that by the time it was over I was glad I didn't
have to listen to "PARTY ON, DUDE!" and "EXCELLENT!" one more time. BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE isn't the sort of thing that would
win awards, in fact nobody in their right mind would recommend it for
one. Some movies are like expensive dinners; others are like Big
Macs. But as Big Macs go, BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE tastes
good. Oh, yeah, the usual cautions: No noticeable bad language, overt
sexual activity, or graphic violence (unless you are the sort of
person who feels that the Three Stooges are a bad influence on kids).
And definitely, absolutely not for people who are into serious cinema.
[Minor update of review from 1989 -- GVG]
Profound in a weird way
On one level, this is one of the silliest movies of all time. The humor is juvenile, and the teenage protagonists *seem* almost completely vacant-minded, their only goal to to start a great rock band, despite their complete inability to play their instruments. They end up on the most hilarious journey through time imaginable, with their 1990's San Dimas, CA sensibilities encountering such historic figures as "So-krates," "Joan of Arc," and Sigmund "Frood," all of whom end up wreaking havoc in a So. Calif. shopping mall. Bill and Ted are endearingly mindless, driven by hormones, and Ted remains Keanu Reeves's best role. The film has some of the funniest one-liners you'll want to add to your collection of quotations suitable to many daily occasions, and somehow there's a sweetness, innocence, and weird profundity to the whole adventure. It's also a multigenerational classic. I'm in my 40's, and my teenage children have been fans since elementary school as well and remain so. It's one of those films that whenever I mention it in a college classroom instantly elicits nods, smiles, and complicit laughs.
Good!
Bill & Ted's's Excellent Adventure is a funny movie that is enjoyable to watch and it was just a really cute movie and reminds me of other good time-travel movies like Time Bandits. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter were really good and I also liked George Carlin and I recommend this movie.
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a 'total recall' ...
do not buy !