BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC (PG)
Director: Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest)
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Samara Weaving, William Sadler.
Rating:
Third time’s a charm
Did there really have to be a third Bill & Ted movie? No.
Is there any reason, then, to see the third Bill & Ted movie? Yes, quite a few, actually.
All of them are to do with the unlikely, yet undeniable realisation that Bill & Ted Face the Music just plain works.
This big-hearted, dumb lug of a movie simply gets you wrapped up in a sincerely warm bro-hug from the moment it starts, and doesn’t let go until the closing credits roll.
It also does not hurt that the film stars one of the most organically adored stars on the planet in 2020, one Mr Keanu Reeves. Back in 1991, when Reeves last stepped into the sneakers of the role of Ted, he was already a byword for wooden acting in wonky motion pictures. Not these days. The dude’s lowimpact skills only seem to amplify his high-calibre screen charisma. (Try any of Keanu’s magnificent John Wicks if you don’t quite buy this theory.) In Face the Music, Ted and Bill (the great Alex Winter) are middle-aged hack-muso dads staring down the mother of all midlife crises.
This dynamically distracted duo have just over an hour to write the song that will save the world. Which is not enough time. And because this is a Bill & Ted movie, the pair ultimately elect to paradoxically travel into the future to steal the song from themselves.
Of course, it does not make a lick of sense. But this is a screen universe where logic, the laws of physics and the books of history will only wipe that dopey grin on your face. File this under “minor movie miracle”: Bill and Ted actually improved with age.
Bill & Ted Face the Music is now showing in selected cinemas (excluding Victoria)