Comedy With Some Deep Themes

Rating: 8/10 (18 November 2013)

As with most comedy films, the viewer needs to be in the right mood for "Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure" to work; otherwise it will fall flat. With help from the enigmatic time-travel guide Rufus (George Carlin) and a magic phone booth, Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) go back in time to learn firsthand about, and kidnap, historical figures as a way to pass their high school history course in 1988.
The historical figures are all stereotypical of their contemporary public image, and include among others: Genghis Khan, Billy the Kid, Lincoln, Napoleon, and a couple of "dudes" who Bill and Ted refer to as Sigmund "Frood" and that well-known Greek philosopher "So-craits".
Indeed, part of the fun is the inane jabber between dim-bulbs Bill and Ted. But the dudes are charming and energetic and mean no harm. Of the two, Ted, whom I refer to as mop head, is probably the funnier. At one point he addresses Billy the Kid as "Mr. The Kid". And when So-craits says: "the only true wisdom consists in knowing that you know nothing", mop head responds cheerfully: "That's us, dude". Marvelous.
The film's first half contains some good humor; the second half becomes ever sillier, from the shopping mall sequence on to the end. The sequence in the auditorium where students give their reports is not the least bit funny, and is loaded with juvenile clichÃ©s. None of the script's dialogue contains any subtext. But that's to be expected when we have such bodacious characters that only want to "party on". The plot centers on physical action, not cerebral mind games.
There's a lot of CGI in this film, and it is done rather well; the special effects do not get in the way of the story. Casting is acceptable. But it's the photogenic Keanu Reeves who really makes the story interesting. Acting is about what we would expect for a popcorn flick.
However shallow the characters may be, and however silly some of the plot elements are, there are some deep messages here. The film offers a satire on suburban youth culture in the frivolous 80s. It also speaks to how different our contemporary culture is from bygone eras, thus offering historical perspective. And of course, "Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure", despite the comedy or perhaps through it, veritably oozes contempt for the failure of American education. The film's thematic depth thus renders it a serious study of suburban youth culture in the latter decades of the twentieth century.