In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Wednesday 17 December 2014

BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE [1989]

Alex Winter & Keanu Reeves star as two time-travelling airheads in Stephen Herek's 80's teen comedy Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
Bill and Ted have to pass their history exam or else it's game over, so with the help of an Americanized TARDIS they travel through time to pick-up famous dead dudes throughout the ages.  There's no denying this is vintage '80's silliness but with the help of the two title character's lovable performances and some hilarious head-shaking lines & situations it manages to win you over within minutes.  Herek's eye is horrible as nearly all his shots are off-kilter, badly framed and unimaginative but that's not what we're here for.  They're harmless, positive role models that stand by their words no matter how bad things get: "be excellent to each other".

3 medieval dickweeds out of 5

6 comments:

Neg said...

Once I had seen Bogus Journey this one became.....strange. Shenanigans in hell and with Death himself, or........homework.

Yeah. No contest.

cuckoo said...

I've seen this one maybe 5 or 6 times.

...I've seen Bogus Journey maybe 20. :p

Dr Faustus said...

I never liked Bogus Journey. I preferred this one, although I’ve not seen either of them since I was a teenager and don’t know if I could sit through them again. It was because of the Ted character that for many years I was unable to see Keanu as anything other than a Californian ‘dude’ with a shoe size larger than his IQ. I love him now, but only because I’d finally wiped Ted from my mind. :shrug:

I can’t fault the “Be excellent...’ message, though.

Neg said...

I've written William-Sadler-Death fan fiction.

I am NOT kidding and I am not ashamed.

Dr Faustus said...

In keeping with the spirit of the film, I’ll be excellent to you despite such transgressions.

cuckoo said...

Neg...

...we need to melvin Doc.