In 1989, in the parking lot of a San Dimas, California Circle K, something strange was afoot. Two slacker teenagers met a mysterious man from the future in a time-traveling phone booth who had come to help the duo pass their history class. Doing so, he told them, would pave the way for them to write the song that would unite the world in the future. Thirty-one years later, that duo, Bill S. Preston Esq. and Ted “Theodore” Logan are back—and still working on that song.
Bill & Ted Face the Music reunites Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves in their respective roles, now fathers to teenage daughters Thea (played by Samara Weaving) and Billie (played by Brigette Lundy-Paine). The medieval princesses they brought back to modern-day San Dimas in the first film, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, are struggling with the titular duo’s far too close-knit friendship and lack of progress on their prophetic song. The only thing that could make life even more frustrating for them is the looming effect of failing this prophecy, which the people of the future have now warned may result in time and the universe unraveling less than a day from where the story picks up.
Face the Music is centrally made of two stories: Bill and Ted’s trip to future versions of themselves to find the final version of the unifying song and Thea & Billie’s trip through time to find the best musicians from throughout history to form what they assume will be their fathers’ band when the song has been found. For the title characters we have known since the ’80s, the film examines how much they have or have not grown since the previous film, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, and how this will impact who they will be at different stages of the rest of their lives.
Though they were both been relatively unknown actors when the first film was released, Keanu Reeves went on become a blockbuster action star, while Alex Winter remained behind the camera as writer and director of many smaller-scale movies and television series. While the comedic tones of the Bill & Ted series is far from the seriousness of John Wick, Reeves remains true to his character, albeit with a slight reduction of the spirit Winter shows. This could be related to the character’s storyline, exemplified by Ted’s suggestion that he may sell a precious guitar in order to make a little money and begin concentrating on his life outside Wyld Stallyns. On the other hand, Reeves might just be unable to catch back up to his comedic acting skills (see Always Be My Maybe for a lackluster comedic cameo), yet his dourness is a wonderful complement to the aged character.
Thea’s and Billie’s journey mirrors Excellent Adventure almost entirely, twisting the silly time-travel adventure of meeting historical figures to historically important musicians, ranging from Mozart to Jimi Hendrix, to Ling Lun, founder of ancient Chinese music. While lacking a water slide, using the original movie’s premise is important not only for callbacks to the original film, but also to show this movie is the girls’ story as much as their fathers’. By the end, it is their own project, with the help of those they collected through time, that needs to succeed.
Overall, Face the Music is a great, dumb comedy to enjoy with the family as everybody continues to quarantine. Having originally been meant as a cinematic release, the lack of open theaters at the planned time for the film’s release moved it to video-on-demand. As wonderful as the special effects and story are, it is not enough to necessitate a giant screen to watch. Face the Music gains and lacks the same qualities the first two films held greatly, which is that all three are perfect Saturday afternoon, family couch-lounging movies. During a time of continuous concern of viruses, hatred, and death, the simple idea of a song to unite the universe is what everybody needs. After all we could do worse as a society than to live by the mantra: “Be excellent to each other. Party on, dudes!”
Bill & Ted Face the Music is available now on most streaming platforms.
