With all due respect, films like Bill and Ted Face the Music (2020) don’t exactly qualify as necessary cinema. The film itself is a sequel to a franchise that was last seen in Bill and Ted’s Bogus Adventure (1991), which has its fans but weren’t exactly clamoring for the end of a trilogy. Then again, cinema in 2020 is more franchise-driven than ever before and who wouldn’t want to spend time with the most excellent duo who travel through time and can play music while air-guitaring?
To backtrack for a moment, this isn’t a complaint on the Bill and Ted legacy. It’s more the idea that no story can be laid to rest anymore. Everything needs to be brought back to life so that audiences can discover what other crazy ideas they can get up to. What makes these two particularly interesting is that they’re very much a product of their time. They still talk with those surfer accents and have this youthful joy in life that will either be endearing or frankly very strange given that in Face the Music, both of them are about 55 years old. Who even talks like that?
Though to be honest, what makes this particular outing a relief is the absurdity of it all. Everything that made the first two movies such a force in pop culture are present here. In 2020, amid a global pandemic, the idea of Bill and Ted preaching world unity through music is downright beautiful. For whatever makes the ending a giant, towering piece of random, it works because the writers have found a way to make the stakes for this franchise so big and yet rely on something so crucial to their identity. The notion to “be most excellent” to each other exists through this film, making even the most ribald of sequence have a heart that makes it all the more welcoming.
The premise is simple: Bill and Ted are given the goal of writing a song that brings the world together. As an opening montage suggests, it isn’t a number one single nor is it any attempted follow-up. They keep trying to find those notes, discovering that nothing they do works. Any chance that you find it ridiculous to see these grown men rocking out and playing silly songs is given context because, throughout those decades since we last saw them, they have been following a dream that has never come true. The start of Face the Music is a tad bittersweet even as it has this comical undertone of our heroes playing their latest creation at a wedding. It doesn’t go well.
They’re fathers now, whose daughters are direct clones of them. Thea and Billie may as well be dropped into the original film and the story could play out the same way. They obsess over vinyl and have a knowledge of artists like Louis Armstrong and Jimi Hendrix that shows some deep bond to their fathers, themselves suffering from potential divorce as they lose sight of their personal lives. They’re so eager to make this song that their world isn’t only going to crumble on a global scale, but an emotional one.
There are two plots from here, following Bill and Ted, and Thea and Billie. The latter is more familiar, reflecting a journey not unlike the first film where they track down musicians throughout the centuries while time traveling. Meanwhile, Bill and Ted are going on a quest to understand how they came up with the song. The issue is that any overlap could create issues, such as breaking up their marriage. The writing’s sharp enough that it makes all of these work while foreshadowing and allowing the viewer to notice the traps before they appear.
It’s the more comical and satisfying of the two, if just because Bill and Ted remain just as endearing of a duo. While they may sometimes feel esoteric as adults, their ability to talk to their aged selves trying to figure out the song, The thing is that it becomes more depressing to watching the older Bills and Teds try to lie their way out of their crumbling success. They’re performing at brunch bars, growing fat and bald and losing any sight of what matters. If they continue on this path, they will be stuck in a perpetual state of youth and delusion that grows less charming. It’s all because they think that this quest mattered more than family.
In a lot of ways, Thea and Billie reflect the future of the family in a very different way, managing to embody the same deadpan performances. While it’s concerning that they couldn’t write daughters that have more authenticity besides being “Bill and Ted’s daughters,” it works to make for a fun, lighthearted journey as they find ways to make Armstrong use a cell phone and call Hendrix’s music “psychedelic.” It’s small things that likely will make music nerds enjoy this film more, creating a brilliant fantasy that would make more sense if these characters didn’t feel like direct clones of their fathers at times.
Then again, Bill and Ted aren’t the only comedy duo hopping on the nostalgia wagon these days. In theory, Jay and Silent Bob haven’t gone away. They have a podcast called Jay and Silent Bob Grow Old. They had an animated movie and probably some other specials under the SModcast banner. Kevin Smith is obsessed with this franchise to such a degree that it’s easy to forget that they haven’t had a solo adventure film since Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) a near 20 years ago. That was back at a time when Smith was fresh-faced, still riding the success of Clerks (1994) and creating a cinematic universe with The Jersey Trilogy before it became trendy.
It makes sense that he would want to revisit these characters because they perfectly define his career as the nerd who did good. His monologues about Star Wars (1977) lead to an incredible career, headlining events at Comic Con and starting a podcast empire. If anyone has become a forefather of the modern nerd, it’s him. Sure, he’s had a dozen movies since 2001 and several more experiences, but he remains just as enthusiastic about comic book culture and seeks to make another stoner comedy about the movie industry.
In theory, this is just as true in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019) as it was in Strike Back. They wanted to stop a comic book movie from being made then. So, what do they want to do this time? They want to stop a reboot that, through complicated rights issues, is going to premiere at (where else but) a Comic Con-style convention for their creation Bluntman & Chronic. Throw in a bunch of references and cameos to Smith’s career, and you get this film’s massive road comedy structure. If there’s anything to say going in, probably brush up on your Smith knowledge, because there’s a lot of in-jokes that you may not understand without hours of consuming podcasts and specials.
In theory, Jay and Silent Bob are just the same as they always were. They’re as reliable as Bill and Ted in that respect. Though if one thing’s disappointing, it’s that Smith as a writer feels at times like he’s lost his appeal. He’s simultaneously more vulgar and latching onto sentimentality that doesn’t always work. He’s also drawn to the idea of stargazing, going to a convention and having his buddies pop up for cameos that should be funny, but unless you’re steeped in modern nerd culture it doesn’t make sense. Sure, you may recognize his Dogma (1999) cohorts Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in brief cameos, but otherwise this is an excuse to watching aging nerds reflect how the world has changed.
Okay, that may not seem like a bad thing. It isn’t, as it is one of Smith’s best films in a near decade. However, part of Strike Back’s appeal is that it played like an Inside Hollywood commentary from a rebellious auteur who could beat them at their game. It wasn’t just the pop culture references, it was the deconstruction of what making cinema was like. Reboot should be about exploring similar subjects while reflecting the aging and maturity of Jay and Silent Bob. While the latter is true, especially in relation to watching Jay’s daughter Millennium Faulken go down similar paths, it isn’t given nearly as much clarity as it should.
On the one hand, these two franchises are trying to achieve different goals at the end of the day. Face the Music was always designed to be higher concept, going through dimensions and embracing its own interior logic. All that Reboot wants to do is have a great time, reveling in the comic book industry that has built in the decades since Smith started his career. There’s nothing wrong with it, though Reboot reflects a lot of decent ideas that never quite meet their full potential. It ends in a fun romp full of bloopers over the credits. If you’ve been to a Smith panel at Comic Con, this likely plays better. Otherwise, it doesn’t speak much about how these characters have grown in any meaningful way, just that Jay needs to be a better father to Millennium because boy is he old.
Both reflect a return to a franchise that’s clearly designed for their fans. They don’t exactly have high stakes outside of this appeal, and Face the Music maybe does it better. While both deal with aging, Bill and Ted manage to confront it with a clever honesty without having to sacrifice any of its narrative gimmicks that made the series so appealing. If anything, the ability to find the characters aging actually has some interesting wrinkles to their story, finding out what their lives as fathers would be and their slow revelation of what matters. The fact that the big twist is that they don’t save the day alone makes for an endearing commentary on how parents should support their children and let them shine.
This isn’t to say that Reboot isn’t supportive, but it doesn’t do enough with its premise to make the story as endearing. It could be that Smith has settled for vulgar jokes that he once wrote better, such as a Jason Lee joke where he’s fellating a movie franchise. It’s supposed to say a lot by how outrageous it is, but all it has is Smith looking comically at his friend, asking us to notice how funny it is. It’s all in good fun and Millennium ends the movie with some satisfactory twist, but it’s still clearly a Jay and Silent Bob taking on Hollywood movie that never quite takes it on with such efficiency. It could just be that Smith’s friends group has changed significantly since 2001, but a comic book director cameo on par with Gus Van Sant in the first would’ve been nice.
There’s just not enough subtext in Reboot, which is fine but makes it a lighter affair than a franchise spanning over 25 years should have. Face the Music makes up for lost time by commenting on a generation who may get lost in their own interests, losing sight of family and progressing in life. It becomes endearing because of how they bond with others over their goofy interests, eventually realizing that their day has passed and that they need to pass the torch. Even a brief cameo from Kid Cudi makes it a delightful revelation that is equal parts satisfying and random.
Neither of these films are bad, though their values differ greatly. Both play things safe and because of that allow for an interesting hangout movie that plays to each characters’ strengths. The only difference is that Face the Music feels like something greater than a random revival. It makes a story that takes risks and give fans a chance to watch their heroes grow old with dignity. Everything else is in place, and all of the big moments are there. They may pale to what they did before, but it’s not from a lack of trying. It’s big, wacky, and done in 90 minutes. Both reflect a desire to have a good time, and right now that’s all we really need. Having Bill and Ted save the day with music feels as good of a distraction as any.
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