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.

[–] JohnnyCastle 9 years ago

This movie is so dumb. The one thing I like about it is how dumb it is. It's just that stupid 80's high-school movie. 2 dumb stoners on some wild trip. Many movies tried to duplicate it like "Dude, Where's My Car?" and others that followed. This is still a classic but yea it's pretty darn awful. It's hard to watch it with every passing year.

I was going to watch it recently and I looked at the trailer and thought there really isn't any reason to watch this.

The one thing I liked was the normal setting where his father was mad at him and he goes on a trip, comes back and aces the exam that he slacked for. It's a little feelgood there. But that doesn't get the attention it deserves. If you watch the trailer you won't see any of that. Just Bill and Ted fooling around with historical figures. Bogus Journey was always awful though. Never really liked that one at all. This looks awesome compared to that.

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] joe_538 9 years ago

Well, like someone else said, humor's subjective. It's a shame you can't enjoy some things.

some looked nothing like their counterparts (Billy the kid and Joan of arc were two good examples).

The classic photo of Billy the Kid leaves room for interpretation, and was considered a poor likeness in its time. The actor looked a bit old to be playing someone who died at 21, but that'd be my only critique. There's been so much variation in the actors playing him in dramatic movies (Paul Newman, Kris Kristofferson, Val Kilmer, etc.) it doesn't really bother me. Joan of Arc predates photography and never posed for a portrait, so I don't know what you'd be comparing her to. Never had a problem accepting any of them.

[–] bossdog677 9 years ago

Sorry to say that you are a flaming homosexual

[–] residentevil6901 9 years ago

I hated this movie when it came out, it grew on me over the years and I like it a lot better now. The coolest part of watching it today is the nostalgia factor.