‘Bill and Ted Face the Music': Far From Excellent, But Party On Dudes [Review]

Bill S. Preston (Alex Winter) and Ted Logan (Keanu Reeves), AKA The Wyld Stallyns, are back. If you remember, the duo traveled back in time to pass their high school history exam in 1989’s “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” along the way they met up with Socrates, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, and Abe Lincoln.

The sequel, released two years later and titled “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey,” had the duo ready to battle Death in a game of Battleship, it ended with them writing the hit “Those Who Rock.” Almost 30 years later, in “Bill & Ted Face the Music,” our stoners are going through couples therapy with their wives (Jayma Mays and Erinn Hayes), and are still jobless, seeking to find their next hit by playing at dives such as the Elk Lodge during $2 taco night (most of the attendees are there for the tacos). There’s also Ted’s daughter, Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine), unemployed/living at home, and Bill’s own nipper, Thea (Samara Weaving), also unemployed/living at home, both clearly genetic offsprings of their fathers.

Destiny reveals itself in the form of a space pod carrying alien Kelly (Kristen Schaal), warning Bill and Ted of their mission: They must write the ultimate song to unite the world by 7:17 p.m, or else the world will go all apocalyptic. “Excellent Adventure” writers Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson, with new director Dean Parisot (using his talents for VFX to create the most visually exciting film of the franchise), manage to have the Preston and Logan family enter time-machines and meet the likes of Louis Armstrong, Kid Cudi, Jimi Hendrix, and Mozart — the latter two collaborating in a hilarious impromptu jam session for the ages. However, the scene-stealers in “Face the Music” aren’t who you might expect — Barry’s Anthony Carrigan is deadpan genius as a robot killing machine, ditto William Sadler, back as Death, and wondering why people don’t want to hear his kickass 40-minute bass solos. It’s just that kind of movie, an amalgam of silliness that doesn’t disappoint if you check your brain at the door. [C+]