It’s been nearly 30 years since we last spent time with Alex Winter’s Bill Preston and Keanu Reeves’ Ted Logan, but after spending the better part of a decade in development hell, their third theatrical adventure, Bill and Ted Face the Music, finally being released. For those of you curious about whether the flick is excellent or bogus, Bill and Ted Face the Music reviews are pouring in, and it looks like this particular time-traveling tale falls more into the “Excellent!” category.
Starting off, CinemaBlend’s own Sean O’Connell gave Bill and Ted Face the Music three and a half out of five stars in his review and noted that while the movie doesn’t get off to the greatest start, it still has the heart of its two predecessors. Along with Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves still shining as their respective characters, actresses Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine are also great as the duo’s daughters.
Face The Music starts off clunky, but finds its sweet spot, and delivers good laughs and big heart in a very tight 76-minute package.
Brian Truitt from USA Today also enjoyed Bill and Ted Face the Music, awarding it a 3/4 score and calling it a movie that “knows exactly what it is and doesn’t bother to have an insincere moment.”
… Bill and Ted’s third outing checks all the appropriate franchise boxes (real historical figures, sweet musical tunes, rad one-liners), puts a big stupid grin on your face, yet also brings a certain dignity and depth to these two ride-or-die best friends now in middle age.
That’s not to say that everyone loved Bill and Ted Face the Music. The AV Club’s Katie Rife stamped the movie with a C+ grade and was disappointed with how the eponymous protagonists and their daughters are kept apart for a large portion of the movie, as well as missed opportunities concerning certain supporting characters.
… The film simply takes too long to find its focus. It's not the most excellent of outcomes, but not a total bummer, either.
Adam Graham from Detroit News was similarly unimpressed with Bill and Ted Face the Music, giving it a C grade in his review and believing that Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves “dumbed down” to reprise these characters.
Bill & Ted Face the Music reveals a sad universal truth: some things, it turns out, are better left in the past.
Finally, back on the more positive end of the critical spectrum, Entertainment Weekly’s Leah Greenblatt gave Bill and Ted Face the Music a B and commended the movie for being able to pack all that it did into a nearly 90-minute runtime.
Mostly, the joy comes from watching Reeves and Winter on screen, two holy fools just doing their best to bring light and love and non-heinous riffs — and remind the bleary-eyed citizens of 2020, perhaps, of a simpler, sweeter world gone by.
These are just some of the Bill and Ted Face the Music reviews that are out now, so feel free to look around the internet to learn what other critics thought of it. Along with the aforementioned actors, Bill and Ted Face the Music’s cast includes William Sadler, Kristen Schaal, Anthony Carrigan, Jayma Mays, Erinn Hayes and Holland Taylor. Dean Parisot directed the picture, and Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon wrote the threequel’s script.
You can judge Bill and Ted Face the Music for yourself when it drops on VOD and plays in select theaters starting tomorrow, August 28. Keep track of the other movies coming out later this year with our 2020 release schedule.
