MovieChat Forums > Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) Discussion > Sorry to say, but this film was absolute...

Sorry to say, but this film was absolutely terrible..

posted 12 years ago by Leoneswest
27 replies | jump to latest

I know it is well-loved by many..but IMO this wasn't funny at all. Nor was it remotely original or clever. Socrates "sands in the hourglass" line and the 69 line got a bit of a chuckle from me..but thats it. I know it wasn't designed to be taken seriously in any way...but this is bad on all levels.

The premise about kidnapping historical figures so they can pass a school assignment???...Umm okay. Won't ask who came up with that. Also Keanu and alex are way too over-the-top and hyper for me to even care about them, much less find them funny. In fact the whole film feels forced and desperate. Like they were shooting in a hurry. Stephen herek would get better over time as a director..but he was off his game here.

Also where did they get all the actors who played the historical figures anyway?. Not only were they crap, some looked nothing like their counterparts (Billy the kid and Joan of arc were two good examples). Looks like they got them all at half price from some crumby third-rate San dimas theatre company.

Anyway here are some moments from the film, that some people concieve as funny.

Abraham lincoln yelling "Party on dudes"............Fail
Napoleon going to a waterpark.............Fail
Joan of arc taking over a tai-bo class......Fail
Bill's "Royal ugly dudes" reference.........Fail
Napoleon being serenaded at a fast food place......Fail
Hot chick being married to Bills dad.......Fail

Sorry but this film falls flat

But I did think Bill and teds bogus journey was very funny and made up for a lot of this films mistakes. Keanu and Alex were much funnier (william sadler too)and the film benefitted from having a director who knew to make comedies. Its what this film should have been...but sadly wasn't. Anyhow there is my review.

P.S....If I was at a fast food place and the employee's came over to me and starting singing "Ziggy piggy ziggy piggy"..I would punch one of them out. The embarrassment would be too much.

[–] Cobra1986 12 years ago

You're entitled to your opinion. But I love it. The thing is..you're criticizing a comedy, one of THE most subjective things on earth so what can I say? the sequel was more suited to your tastes I guess. But I like them both fairly equally.

[–] Leoneswest 12 years ago

I know it's only a comedy, and believe me I love comedies. But I simply found it weird. If it had been funny then I would have been happy. Maybe Americans appreciate this type of humour more. I dunno.

[–] Cobra1986 12 years ago

Well I'm British(Scottish)so...I dunno lol

[–] baheidstu-351-733122 12 years ago

Odd that you would like the sequel and not the first film, even though it's mostly the same brand of humour.

[–] Doc80 12 years ago

I have a couple questions for you. Did you just recently see this for the first time and how old are you? I ask because if you recently saw it for the first time, I could understand why you wouldn't like it. This movie is has a lot of classic 80's American humor that depending on your age, you just might not get and the fact that you are British probably causes a bit of a culture divide because I'm sure the 80's were a different experience over there than in the US.

That all being said, I find this movie hilarious but then again, I saw it when I was a kid in the 80's, so I admit that there is some nostalgic feelings there.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] kaineas 12 years ago

Well, I'm an American who was alive and sentient in the eighties, so I definitely didn't miss the cultural window. But I found this movie to be depressingly slapdash and bad, yet not bad enough to be enjoyable for sheer rottenness. I didn't laugh once, and I was tempted to turn it off just a few minutes in. I found myself wondering whether I had some bills to pay or something (alas, my bills are all automatically debited these days). But this film is considered to be something of an icon, so I kept watching. I was thankful that it had a short running time, at least.

[–] Spongeyone 12 years ago

Not only were they crap, some looked nothing like their counterparts (Billy the kid and Joan of arc were two good examples)

That would be the Joan of Arc no one knows the appearance of, and the Billy the Kid most famously played by Emilio Estevez, right?

Death to shakeycam directors!

[–] hurricanehorton 12 years ago

I'm British, and it's one of my favourite films of all time.

[–] crockett_john 12 years ago

I always wonder how people know what Lincoln sounded like, but every actor tries to do the same voice.

[–] sixpetite 10 years ago

There are written accounts of how Lincoln sounded, DDL used these to get his voice accurate for LINCOLN.

[–] joe_538 9 years ago

Maybe the OP knew Joan of Arc personally? 

[–] wuja 10 years ago

Seemed like a movie that was made to get kids to try at school. "Let's make history fun." You can tell the writers had no idea how to make the history report cool for the final act. That's why it's chopped up to garbage.

[–] dkgambler 10 years ago

Sorry to say, but you are an insufferable bore.

[–] Leoneswest 10 years ago

You must be from Texas

[–] dkgambler 10 years ago

You must be from Texas

Actually no, but I do reside in another flyover state not worthy of the wisdom of someone such as yourself who inhabits one of the coasts where my betters reside and can't wait to get a taste of his next batch of flatulence.

Oh and sir (is that the proper way to address my better?), you can wait more than two hours to respond to a post about a harmless movie. It's OK, the world is clearly impressed with your brilliance and you need no further affirmation.

[–] Gwasgray 10 years ago

I wouldn't go as far "absolutely terrible", but I just watched it for the first time on ITV2 (a British channel) and it was a bit lukewarm. There wasn't many actual gags apart from Bill and Ted generally being endearingly dumb. I think ITV also edited out some bits (such as the bit where they say "Fag!" when they hug each other) because it started showing at 7.30pm, but I probably didn't miss much.

I have seen Bogus Journey, not for a long time, but it's probably funnier and holds up a lot better.

[–] Billy_Rambo 10 years ago

I do agree that this movie is pretty bad, but it was good for its time, I think? Its just no one had seen a movie so over-the-top & retarded before. But, if this same exact movie was released today, it probably wouldn't even fly & get bad reviews from everyone. This movie is just outdated.

I actually agree with you that I had more fun with the 2nd one, Bogus Journey. That was actually kinda funny when they keep beating death in all those games, LOL!

[–] ebright99 10 years ago

Twice the OP makes reference to the ice cream scene:

P.S....If I was at a fast food place and the employee's came over to me and starting singing "Ziggy piggy ziggy piggy"..I would punch one of them out. The embarrassment would be too much.

He seems to fundamentally not understand the scene. That was not a fast food restaurant. It was a sit down ice cream parlor. From the '60s through to the '80s there was a resurgence of old fashioned ice cream parlors and part of their gimmick is that if it was your birthday or if you ordered one of their monster big ice cream sundaes they would come out and sing, beat a drum, ring a siren, etc. The actors in the scene (who happen to be the screenwriters of the film) are lampooning the then popular ice cream parlor schtick. What's happening in that scene is not (as he imagines) a depiction of what would be the world's most obnoxious McDonald's employees, but rather a satire of a very real restaurant phenomenon.

The largest of these chains was called Farrell's and is still around: http://www.farrellsusa.com/history-of-fun.shtml Their biggest sundae was called The Pig Trough and was very obviously the inspiration for the Ziggy Piggy.

By 1988 when the film was made they were nearly extinct, but they've had a recent comeback of sorts.

Anyway when a writer misunderstands something so fundamentally and then notes it as something that is "wrong" with the film then I think the writer's other complaints can safely be dismissed as well.

[–] Adzyb 10 years ago

I love this movie, it's a time capsule of the 80/90's... of course it doesn't translate to all people today but it's just some innocent fun for those who remember.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] scabab 9 years ago

It wasn't terrible but it wasn't good by any means either.