Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

Interscope/Nelson. Director Peter Hewitt; Producer Scott Kroopf; Screenplay Chris Matheson, Ed Solomon; Camera Oliver Wood; Editor David Finfer; Music David Newman; Art Director David L. Snyder

Keanu Reeves
Alex Winter
William Sadler
Joss Ackland
Pam Grier
George Carlin

In aptly named Bill & Ted 's Bogus Journey, the characters of the dopey, sweet-spirited dudes from San Dimas, Calif, go undeveloped in a sequel that contrives another elaborate but non-excellent adventure. Same producing and writing team pumps much effort into production design and special effects, creating a few triumphant moments, but not enough to sustain pic's running time.

This time, evil robot versions of Bill and Ted (Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves) have been sent from the future to kill the duo before their band, Wyld Stallyns, can win a local talent contest and inspire a Bill and Ted following that changes the world.

The 'evil us's,' as B&T call them, throw the good dudes off a cliff, but before the Grim Reaper can claim them, they get to try to beat him in a contest, and since they pick the games (Battleship, Clue, Twister), they win. His Royal Deathness (played by William Sadler in a takeoff on Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal) is then at their service as they embark on an odyssey to try to overcome the evil robot dudes and win the battle of the bands.

These guileless airheads with the outrageous vocabulary are obviously a beloved creation, and filmmakers might have gotten more mileage if they'd rooted their adventure a bit more in reality.

(Color) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1991. Running time: 98 MIN.

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