Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

For some reason I did not watch 1989's BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE until I was 51 years old.  Wha?  I was 20 during its original release, and still very much into goofball comedies.  I dunno, maybe it just looked too silly.  And hey, that it certainly is, but it all works.  That's impressive.  Comedy has to be one of the most difficult tightropes to walk in a movie.  While what is funny is certainly subjective, to create something that remains true to its lighthearted intentions and be inventive is a feat.  So many movies like this fall flat, too dumb or uneven in tone to be successful.  Writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon strike all the right notes, as does director Stephen Herek. 

Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) are two amiable high school doofuses/members of the metal band "Wyld Stallyns" in San Dimas, California who are about to flunk their History course.  That is, unless they get an A+ on one final presentation, to be delivered during an assembly in the school's auditorium.  Dude.  They retreat home to study, but it's clear that the future is grim.  Well, for the moment anyway.  Ted's father, a local cop, is threatening to send Ted to military school in Alaska.  But then Rufus (George Carlin) appears in front of a Circle K.  He tells our boys that he's from the year 2688, where society is benevolent because of music - Bill & Ted's music.  He's been sent back to ensure they pass their class, become world famous rock stars and philosophers, and thus provide the utopian society he's enjoyed.

Bill & Ted are soon off on a journey through history in a time machine that looks like a phone booth.  They are able to kidnap key figures like Billy the Kid, Socrates, Joan of Arc, and even Sigmund Freud.  This will be the best presentation ever! But of course there are snags, what with almost getting killed in 15th century England, having the time machine damaged, and Ted having to have his younger brother and his friends babysit Napoleon Bonaparte, who accidentally got thrown into the time portal.  Turns out Napoleon is a real dick, and his scenes in present day San Dimas provide some of the biggest laughs (especially the part at the bowling alley).

Much of the humor is from the interaction between the leads, and both are just wonderful.  We totally buy their friendship.  Laugh when we hear guitar riffs when something reminds them of their favorite bands.  Even when things get really goofy, the spirits are high and exactly the right tone is found.  This is how a "fun" movie should play.  It never makes the mistake of trying to explain the rules of time travel, which it gleefully violates at almost every turn. 

Movies like BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE often stay relevant simply because of nostalgia.  Happily I can say I saw this for the first time as an adult and dug it just as much as I probably would've back when.  Or maybe part of me has never moved beyond that (Thank the Lord.) 

P.S. -- Go-Gos guitarist Jane Wiedlin plays Joan of Arc.  I wish there had been a scene with her jamming with Bill and Ted.