Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)

The first movie was a success. The second isn't as exciting, although it does have its moments, but it is still a totally bogus movie. All the old characters appear, the princesses, the dads, Missy, and some great new stars, William Sadler playing the Duke of Spook, the Doc of Shock, The Man with No Tan, Death himself, the Grim Reaper. He is terrific in this movie, moreso towards the end, where he comes out with a excellent line: "You might be a king or a little street sweeper, but sooner or later you'll dance with the reaper." You've gotta love that line.

Not since Chasing Amy etc, has a movie come out with great end credits. (If you like the final song, you'll probably watch the credits right to the end, if you don't, you won't!) Here are some examples of what appears in the end credits to Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey:

"Be Excellent to Each Other and Party On."
The Full On First Unit
The Stellar Cast
The Non-Heinous Second Unit
The Bodacious Video Effects
The Atypical Creature & Makeup Effects
The Unprecedented Video Photography
The New Age Dudes
Totally Outstanding Guitars Provided By
Camera Operator "Evil" Bill Roe
First Assistant Camera "Good" Bill Clevenger

I hope there will be a third Bill & Ted movie. The best bit of both movies has to be the newspaper/magazine covers towards the end. If you read the headlines, they're pure class! If you haven't seen these movies, you must. They're before Keanu really hit the big time, when all he could do was goofy (and sexy at the same time!), and when Alex really didn't look like he'd hit puberty yet!

As the movie opens, the whole world is Bill's and Ted's oyster. They have their own apartment, they are in love with the princess babes they rescued from mediaeval England in the first movie, and the Battle of the Bands is all set to take place the following night. As they already know from Rufus (George Carlin) of the future, their performance at the Battle of the Bands will change the entire world and quickly lead to a blissful future for mankind in which everyone is excellent to each other. In that happy future, Rufus is teaching a class with the aid of such historical figures as Bach, Edison, and the killer guitar player from Faith No More. Then, from out of the blue, the classroom is taken over by gunmen led by Rufus' old crotchety gym teacher Chuck De Nomolos. The man's hatred for Bill and Ted and the way of life they brought into permanent being is so strong that he sends two evil Bill and Ted robots back in time to ruin the lives and future of Wyld Stallyns before they can really even begin. The robots are pretty successful, actually killing the good Bill and Ted. Here begins the truly bogus journey of our heroes, as they face the Grim Reaper himself, get an up close and very personal look at the depths of Hell, and journey to heaven to meet God Himself. It takes more than a well-coordinated Melvin attack on Death to bring them back to life, but they never waver from their determination to come back, save the babes, kill the evil Bill and Ted, and play most triumphantly at the Battle of the Bands.

I love the ending of the movie; it has little shame in its pursuit of utter goofiness, and I admire that type of commitment to inanity for the sake of entertainment. The whole scene takes about fifteen minutes, but the guys put on one heck of a show at the Battle of the Bands. The fun doesn't even stop when the credits begin to roll because we are treated to a number of magazine and newspaper headlines of the future chronicling the many successes of Bill and Ted and the somewhat troubled rock and roll career of Death. I love this most non-heinous, totally excellent movie. If you want comedy, look no further than Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey.