There is much to be commented on when it comes to Bill & Ted in the modern world. In times of such strife economically, politically and so many other “-ally’s” that it would take a page to list them all. This is not news naturally to most of us. There is justness then in this sense to bring Bill & Ted back to our screens, with their key ethos remaining “stay excellent”. This ethos becomes a commentary throughout the film and leads to the this well-meant and easy-going comedy to be a very heartfelt film. But let’s break it down first, before we get to the end.

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Coming to us 31 years after their first outing, Bill and Ted are now faced once more with the ultimate challenge: to restore balance in the universe by writing the greatest song ever made. The plot is simple and effective and like the previous films, is mainly an excuse to have some great gags and some wonderfully funny characters. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter return as Bill and Ted, seamlessly falling back into the rhythms and mannerisms that led to the characters being and remaining intensely likeable. The two of them are simply a treat here and it’s wonderful to see Winter act again, after moving into work behind the camera for so many years. 

This time, we are directed by Dean Parisot of Galaxy Quest legacy. Parisot has many great visuals here in the film, but doesn’t necessarily have the whacky or creative film language that made the previous films so intriguing to watch. The camerawork always serves the comedy, but fails often to punctuate the other scenes. Another immediate failure of the film that is startlingly noticeable is some truly bad CGI. It’s not that the previous films were Blade Runner or anything, but they had a charm about them and worked around their limitations with much creativity. Such creativity does seem to be lacking here in the film. The script is written once more by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, returning after scribing the first two films. This is the key element in making the film feel like the film’s we’ve come to love, imbuing the feature with all of the wry comedy and wit (and plain stupidity) that made the films so fun. Let me add that it’s a very smart thing indeed to write stupidity well. These two can. The main problem the film has is just a lack of zip about it; the film does seem to drag a bit and it's only 90 minutes. The ending also feels very rushed and, I’m not one to speculate, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the production was indeed affected by the current COVID climate, despite no news to that effect. Maybe the film just had a rushed ending to begin with, but with it being the ending we currently have, I can’t really give it any leeway COVID-wise.

The B plot of the film follows Bill and Ted’s daughters, Billie and Thea, played by Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine, both of which do fine work imbuing mannerisms of their film fathers into their characters, whilst also making them their own roles. However, the immense possibilities of comedy available in their B plot, following them through time selecting musical artists from Mozart to Hendrix, feels like it is not utilised to the best of its ability. To put it plainly, Billie and Thea just aren’t as interesting as Bill and Ted, nor as funny, nor as watchable. It’s not that they aren’t funny, it’s just when the two plots are being cut between one another, you find yourself hoping for a return to the original characters more often than you find yourself hoping for a return to the new ones. I don’t think this is entirely Weaving and Lundy-Paine’s fault, I do think they simply aren’t given as much comedy or as many interesting things to do here, which think is a shame. 

One of the cameos of the film is the current musical artist Kid Cudi. Now, I’m not especially clued up on my modern music, but I had simply never heard of this person before and found myself wondering whether or not they were a fictional creation or a real-life star. Also, the conceit of this artist that I’ve never heard of being the sixth best musician of all time, in a band including Louis Armstrong, Mozart and Hendrix, feels a little absurd and when he is given lines of dialogue they just aren’t delivered very well at all. Ultimately, I feel that this cameo will be the most dated element of the film in a few years, but who knows? He may become the next biggest star the music world has ever seen and this section of the review may appear in an article on some list site, entitled “TOP 10 TIMES MOVIE CRITICS GOT IT WRONG!”. It’ll be Pauline Kael on Star Wars, Roger Ebert on A Clockwork Orange and me on Kid Cudi. Albeit, I very much doubt that.

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The two comedic standouts from the supporting cast are both in completely white makeup. With William Sadler returning as Death, giving us another performance of great comedy and wonderful exaggeration that make it hilarious still to this day. In this new film, the character is given an extended scene where the relationship between Bill and Ted and Death is explored in a very unexpected and hilarious way. It’s probably the funniest part of the film and I wish that we had spent more time with their dynamic, instead of having Billie and Thea forced into the tail end of the scene again. The word "forced" does feel right when talking about Billie and Thea, especially in regards to the ending, with a reveal that was just blatantly obvious from the start. It’s not like I was expecting a Keyser Sose level twist, but all the same it felt a little too obvious for my liking. Our other white makeup laden comedic standout is Anthony Carrigon as the robot killer sent after Bill and Ted, whose comedy and character comes very unexpectedly and imbues the film with a touch of current sarcastic comedy that adds another element to the film’s plethora of comedic beats. A very welcome character to the film and the world of this series.

Overall, the plot has a litany of half-baked ideas and a collection of characters that are mostly interesting, but sometimes never receive their moment in the sun, not even for a passing gag. The film is very funny, but sometimes does drag and many jokes here unfortunately don’t land. However, I do have to say that in a film of this type, I would much rather have an abundance of half-baked albeit still interesting ideas, than a lack of creativity. And if there is one thing that all of these films have plenty of, it’s masses of creativity, making them the great comedies that they are (and now the great trilogy that this is). The references to plot elements from the other films are done very funnily and subvert our expectations in ways that make it noticeable and enjoyable for fans, and still interesting for fresh viewers. The references to the earlier films are fleeting and not as often as so many films of this ilk tend to be, which make it all feel very refreshing. The film ultimately has a lovely message at the heart of it and would leave you feeling a lot warmer if the ending didn’t come so startlingly quick. But it’s a nice message all the same and a very funny film all the same. 

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A very enjoyable 6/10, faithful to the originals in its comedy and tone, but lacking just a little bit of punch and pacing to make it fly by a little more smoothly.

P.S. I miss George Carlin with an unbridled passion that only he could vulgarly describe. His loss in the world of comedy is a loss that unfortunately will never be remedied. Do yourself a favour and watch some stand-up from this absolute legend.

-Thomas Carruthers