Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

1991

Director- Peter Hewitt

Cast- Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, William Sadler, George Carlin, Pam Grier, Joss Ackland, Frank Welker

           

For the non-Generation Xers for whom Bill and Ted were not a central part of their pop culture, let me bring you up to speed. In their previous Excellent Adventure, two high school slackers, Bill S. Preston Esquire (Alex Winter) and Ted Theodore Logan (Keanu Reeves) become time travelers with the aid of Rufus (George Carlin), a time traveler himself. The purpose? They need help passing history. Bill and Ted are destined to bring peace to the Earth, but not if they fail history.

            In this adventure, they are killed by malcontents from the future (with the help of evil Bill and Ted robots) who wish to sabotage world peace. Upon their bogus death, they find themselves greeted by the Grim Reaper (William Sadler) and try to ditch him by giving him a wedgie and splitting. They walk the Earth as ghosts before they go to Bill’s stepmother who is in the middle of a New Age séance.  Mistaking them for evil spirits she banishes them and sends them straight to Hell.

            They take a trek through Hell that alternates between being a rusty labyrinth to a German expressionist nightmare complete with crazed Easter Bunny and a giant Satan (voiced by Frank Welker who had a similar role in The Golden Child). They realize the only way out is to beat Death himself and they challenge the Grim Reaper to a game. Upon victory they make their way to Heaven (where they mug some folks for their clothes) and then back to Earth where they try to set things right.

            The movie is irreverent but so silly that it doesn’t come across as purposefully offensive. The film’s original title was Bill and Ted Go to Hell. I guess they switched it to avoid unwanted controversy (I can relate). It features a good soundtrack with rifts by guitar god Steve Vai, Faith No More, Primus and a really good song by Megadeth entitled Go to Hell.

            Personally, I like this movie more than the original. On the other hand, if you haven’t seen the original, I doubt you’d be interested in the sequel. Honestly I’m not sure if a modern audience would find the movie as funny today (though we'll find out in the upcoming third installment). A certain amount of silliness was acceptable ,back then, if the end product was funny. I don’t think any Hollywood executive would green light Weird Science today, and I think the same can be said of Bill and Ted.