# "Bill and Ted: Face the Music" out this summer. Will it be excellent or heinous? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [June 9, 2020, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-and-ted-face-the-music-out-this-summer-will-it-be-excellent-or-heinous/855297 "2020-06-09T15:17:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2020, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-and-ted-face-the-music-out-this-summer-will-it-be-excellent-or-heinous/855297/101 "2020-09-03T03:43:02Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > He should have been. > > “I helped too! I pushed the cart and I did the wigs!” They try to recapture that in Face the Music with Dennis, the loser killer robot, and it just doesn’t work as well because I kept wanting to see Death more. (Dennis is played by Anthony Carrigan, who is extremely funny, so it’s not his fault.) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2020, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-and-ted-face-the-music-out-this-summer-will-it-be-excellent-or-heinous/855297/102 "2020-09-03T03:44:35Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > They try to recapture that in Face the Music with Dennis, the loser killer robot, and it just doesn’t work as well because I kept wanting to see Death more. (Dennis is played by Anthony Carrigan, who is extremely funny, so it’s not his fault.) Yep. Am I right that the idea was this: When the robot got to hell, it was because he had died. Inside him was a regular guy, like the old Cybermen from Doctor Who. That is why his personality came out once he got there. If that is the case, I don’t think they explicitly said it. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2020, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-and-ted-face-the-music-out-this-summer-will-it-be-excellent-or-heinous/855297/103 "2020-09-03T04:39:56Z")
> [@bwilson](#): > > Only heard good things about this so far… I might watch it The story was a complete mess. The only thing–_the only thing_–it has going for it is nostalgia for the first two movies. It is like a made-for-TV reunion episode of a sitcom from a previous generation. It is the _Return to Mayberry_ of Bill and Ted. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2020, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-and-ted-face-the-music-out-this-summer-will-it-be-excellent-or-heinous/855297/104 "2020-09-03T13:06:03Z")
Even though I started this thread, I have no desire to watch it on VOD at a $19.99 rental fee right now. I think $3.99 is my acceptable price point once it’s been out of first-run status for awhile. Or maybe I’ll wait until it turns up on a streaming channel for free. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlax/32/2927_2.png) [@Scarlax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlax)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-and-ted-face-the-music-out-this-summer-will-it-be-excellent-or-heinous/855297/105 "2020-10-06T19:54:36Z")
As good a place as any to post: Eddie Van Halen dead at 65. > **[Eddie Van Halen, guitar virtuoso with a shimmering sound, dies at 65 — The...](https://apple.news/A4rcY79CQR5-ta10Y1jqI4A)** > > He battled alcoholism while helping make Van Halen one of the 1980s’ biggest bands. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-and-ted-face-the-music-out-this-summer-will-it-be-excellent-or-heinous/855297/106 "2020-10-07T05:35:54Z")
I saw it in a theater. If you don’t want to pay $19.99 to stream it, check if it’s playing at any theater close enough to you to drive there. I had to drive a little farther to see it than I usually do to see a movie in a theater, but the ticket was less than $19.99. I much prefer to see movies in a theater rather than streaming. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-and-ted-face-the-music-out-this-summer-will-it-be-excellent-or-heinous/855297/107 "2020-10-11T02:04:25Z")
Very late to this thread, but I just watched it. It was…ok. I didn’t think it quite recaptured the magic of the first two. The ending was very sweet, though. And I agree with several posters above - Brigette Lundy-Paine did a better Keanu-Reeves-as-Ted-Logan than Keanu Reeves did. > [@Mahaloth](#): > > Did Jimmy Hendrix bring an amp with electricity back to Vienna in the 1700’s? How else did he play his electric guitar? It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but he’s clearly shown plugging his guitar into a cord coming out of the time-travel pod. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-and-ted-face-the-music-out-this-summer-will-it-be-excellent-or-heinous/855297/108 "2020-10-11T02:17:09Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but he’s clearly shown plugging his guitar into a cord coming out of the time-travel pod. Thanks, I really did miss it. ---
**Author:** ![fc1114](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@fc1114](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fc1114)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-and-ted-face-the-music-out-this-summer-will-it-be-excellent-or-heinous/855297/109 "2020-11-10T15:55:54Z")
Today (11/10) is the release of the blu ray/dvd of Bill and Ted Face the Music. Best buy has the trilogy pack for $30. (blu ray) ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-and-ted-face-the-music-out-this-summer-will-it-be-excellent-or-heinous/855297/110 "2020-11-24T06:36:39Z")
I just watched the DVD. If the choice is between “excellent” and “heinous,” I’d rate it “excellent.” Yes, it’s a little confusing and muddy in spots; but what helped me over those spots was just what **RickJay** said above: > [@RickJay](#): > > Much of the appeal of Bill and Ted movies is, well, Bill and Ted. They’re so likeable. They’re also not like other comedy duos. They aren’t an odd couple duo,m for one thing. Usually a comedy duo is made of two conflicting personalities. The asshole and the silly one is a classic - Laurel and Hardy, Ren and Stimpy. The uptight guy and the slob - Felix and Oscar, Harold and Kumar. Bill and Ted are fundamentally interchangeable, and the guys who write the movies use that to their advantage. Hendrix jamming with Mozart was great, though I would have liked to have heard Louis Armstrong join in. And Death was a hoot–“No 45-minute bass solos, dude!” It was an entertaining ninety minutes. Most excellent indeed! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-and-ted-face-the-music-out-this-summer-will-it-be-excellent-or-heinous/855297/111 "2020-12-24T21:47:27Z")
I watched this last night; it’s on sale for $5 so I figured “hell yeah”. The opening wedding scene alone is worth $40, maybe $50. Maybe more. It’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. I watched that scene again after I finished the whole movie and yep, it slays. Watched it again this morning just to be sure and by Og it had me in tears again. Overall, I’d rate the film a solid 8/10. I would describe this movie as curiously touching and humorously triumphant. It isn’t perfect, not even close, but it has _charm_. Just like the first movie did, these characters and actors just _charm_ the shit outta us. And I’m talking about Bill & Ted and Billie and Thea here: they’re just so earnest, so without guile, so deadly serious and so nonchalant all at the same time… it’s _charming_ and you want to see them succeed because even tho they might not deserve all the fruits of success, they surely don’t _deserve_ to fail. What worked really well: Alex Winter is awesome. FFS there were times when I was genuinely unsure if I was seeing current Bill or 1990s Bill. Not just his physical appearance but his mannerisms seemed to be _exactly_ the same as they were 25 years ago. Keanu was good but he seemed stiff at first; I could kind of see him relaxing into the character as the film went on tho, and by the end he was nearly as spot-on as Alex was. Brigette Lundy-Paine was excellent as Billie. She really looked like a young female Ted, from her physical appearance to her mannerisms. She wasn’t aping Ted, just kind of having her own manifestation of his tics and things. William Sadler was amazing. I hope the original casting director responsible for hiring him has received awards, a pony, a prime parking spot, etc. because he was born to play Death. The story was great. A plenty good enough MacGuffin to get things moving and make they keep moving. Also great seeing Erinn Hayes; she’s making a mini-career out of humorous time travel films. If you haven’t seen it, she’s in this 5 minute film: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBkBS4O3yvY) What didn’t work that well: Samara Weaving. Her voice was fine but it never matched her face. She seems mostly unaware that she has a body below her head and she doesn’t have many facial expressions. I thought she was making the effort but was just not good for the role. Kid Cudi. I know he’s some pop star/rapper but I don’t really know why he was shoved into this film. I thought he actually did a great job and was even amused by his grasp of the situation, but I was mystified as to why he was there in the first place. In the end, the film confirmed that he was kind of this movie’s _station_: a dumb, poorly-conceived in-joke that nobody understands or finds funny. Kirsten Schaal: the role is terrible and there’s just nothing she can do with it. Not her fault, just disappointing. Dennis the robot: even for a silly movie this was just stupid as hell. Poorly conceived, poorly written. What saves it is a great costume and an actor trying like hell to not suck. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2020, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-and-ted-face-the-music-out-this-summer-will-it-be-excellent-or-heinous/855297/112 "2020-12-27T16:19:28Z")
On the off-chance that you’ve made a note to yourself that you would like to see again the movie that Snowboarder Bo links to above, include in your note the fact that this is the 2014 movie with that name. There’s another movie with the name _One-Minute Time Machine_ that was made in 2017, although that one doesn’t have a hyphen in “one-minute”. It’s like we keep making films with the same title. Oh, no, we’re caught in a loop! Anyway, I like _Bill & Ted Face the Music_. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2020, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-and-ted-face-the-music-out-this-summer-will-it-be-excellent-or-heinous/855297/113 "2020-12-27T19:20:52Z")
Someone upthread mentioned that Kirsten Schaal’s Kelly was a nice nod to George Carlin and that they could have done some nice stunt casting by actually casting his daughter Kelly in the role; well, she was in the movie: Kelly Carlin-McCall played Head Technician. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-and-ted-face-the-music-out-this-summer-will-it-be-excellent-or-heinous/855297.md?page=5)