Way Underrated

Rating: 9/10 (4 July 2019)

Although 6.9 isn't THAT low, I'm shocked to see it's not 7.5 or higher. Honestly. Writing good dumb comedy can be tough. It's truly under appreciated form of comedy writing. Too often I feel writers want to write really clever, fleshed out characters with tons of layers in their comedy and my only thought is...you're working too hard, look at Bill and Ted!
Make no mistake, this is a smart written comedy about dumb people. I've always loved the idea of creating supernatural comedies with characters who don't deserve or belong in the supernatural realm. This movie exemplifies that perfectly. Two underachieving slackers are given a time machine with the purpose of passing a history report? That's comedy gold. And then add the fact that they don't have very unique speech patterns that makes them truly memorable. Are they dated? Sure...but people love nostalgia and by definition nostalgia is dated.
I also think this movie launched Keanu Reeves career, but it unfortunately launched his career as a bad actor, which he so clearly is not. Perhaps he got type-casted for a while, but this is one of his stand out performances...I'm not saying that to make fun of him, I'm saying it as someone who truly loves these characters. And of course Alex Morgan is fantastic in his role as well. And so is George Carlin.
In summary, this film is perhaps rated lower than it should be because too many people think film should be art and a movie about time travelling high schoolers who talk like stoners sounds like a ridiculous premise. And it is, but it works on every level.
9/10