Bill and Ted Face The Music

Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020) 🎶⏰

“Remember to Be Excellent to Each Other… and Party On, Dudes”

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🎥 Let’s Start by Showing Y’all the Trailers Shall We?

🧔 The Case of the Missing Beard

Okay, side note here — but a lot of people (myself included) couldn’t help noticing that clean-shaven Keanu Reeves in this movie somehow looks older than he does in literally anything else he’s ever done. In John Wick, the beard works like his personal de-aging filter. It hides the sharper age lines, gives him that timeless “Keanu cool,” and keeps him looking like the immortal meme we all know him as.

But in Bill & Ted Face the Music? With the beard gone, suddenly it’s like, “Whoa, dude… mortality is real.” 😬 The irony is that they shaved him to make him look more like “Ted” again, but instead it just highlighted the years. You’re not crazy if you thought, “Man, put that beard back on immediately.” A lot of fans had the same reaction — and honestly, the beard is kind of his youth serum at this point.

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📖 Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

After decades of goofing around, Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) are middle-aged dads who still haven’t written the universe-defining song that Wyld Stallyns is destined to create. The clock is ticking: they have until 7:17 p.m. to reunite the world through music or reality itself collapses.

Problem? They still can’t write the song. So they decide to cheat by visiting future versions of themselves to steal it. Meanwhile, their daughters — Thea “Theodore” Preston (Samara Weaving) and Billie Logan (Brigette Lundy-Paine) — embark on their own time-traveling adventure, recruiting musical legends to help save existence.

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👥 Character Rundown

Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) – Older, still goofy, still best buds with Ted, struggling with the pressure of destiny.

Ted “Theodore” Logan (Keanu Reeves) – Just as burned out and co-dependent on Bill as ever.

Thea “Theodore” Preston (Samara Weaving) – Bill’s daughter, music-obsessed, quirky, and essentially a “Bill 2.0.”

Billie Logan (Brigette Lundy-Paine) – Ted’s daughter, equally quirky, basically “Ted 2.0.”

Dennis Caleb McCoy (Anthony Carrigan) – A neurotic, self-conscious robot assassin who ends up stealing the show. He’s the robot with an anxiety issue. Because he keeps killing the wrong person.

Death (William Sadler) – Returns in the third act, once again reluctantly joining Wyld Stallyns.

Missy, De Nomolos’ legacy, and the wives – Side characters with their own subplots, including couples therapy sessions for Bill & Ted’s struggling marriages.

Rufus Tribute – George Carlin’s Rufus doesn’t appear, but there’s a sweet homage that fans will appreciate.

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⏱️ Pacing / Episode Flow

The first act is full of classic Bill & Ted energy — goofy banter, silly time-travel logic, and plenty of laughs. The middle act, however, drags a bit as the jokes taper off. The final act picks things up again with Death’s return, the daughters’ band of legends, and the climactic song. The abrupt ending, though, feels rushed.

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✅ Pros

Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine nail the “Bill & Ted 2.0” vibe 🙌

Dennis Caleb McCoy the robot is unexpectedly hilarious 🤖😂

Death’s return is a welcome throwback 💀

A heartfelt tribute to George Carlin’s Rufus

Sweet “passing of the torch” energy with the daughters

We all needed this movie in twenty twenty, trust me.

The Daughters, Dennis, Death… and Kid Cudi. Let’s be honest — the heart and humor of this movie didn’t come from Bill and Ted themselves. Thea and Billie (Samara Weaving & Brigette Lundy-Paine) carried the spirit of the originals, Dennis Caleb McCoy (Anthony Carrigan) stole scenes as the apologetic robot, and Death (William Sadler) brought back that nostalgic spark. And then there was Kid Cudi, playing himself but somehow pulling it off. His chill charisma and random physics knowledge gave the daughters’ subplot an unexpected weight, and he meshed perfectly with the group. These four together were the glue that held Face the Music together.

They brought the whole cast back. One of the best things about Face the Music is that it really does feel like a reunion. They didn’t cheap out and quietly kill off or replace characters — they actually brought back Ted’s strict dad (Hal Landon Jr.), Missy (Amy Stoch, still hilariously marrying her way through the family), the Princess wives (Jayma Mays & Erinn Hayes), and of course William Sadler as Death. Having all those familiar faces return tied the trilogy together and gave fans the sense of closure a final chapter should have.

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❌ Cons

The humor dips hard in the middle stretch

The abrupt ending feels unfinished (quick zoom-out with narration)

Some side plots (like the marriage counseling) feel undercooked

Future versions of Bill & Ted come off more sad than funny at times

Why does everyone go to Hell? This has been bugging me — in this universe, apparently every time someone dies, they just drop straight into Hell like it’s the default setting. Bill, Ted, their wives, the robot, even Kid Cudi — all instantly sent downstairs. Did they all commit some unseen sin? Is Heaven just closed for business in the Bill & Ted universe? It makes zero sense, and instead of adding stakes, it just leaves you scratching your head. 🤔

The daughters’ subplot was stronger than Bill & Ted’s. Every time Thea and Billie showed up, the movie felt alive — their time-traveling “band hunt” had the same fun, discovery-driven energy as the first movie. In contrast, Bill and Ted’s main plot got repetitive fast. The whole “future variants” gag worked once, maybe twice, but after that it was just, “Yep, they’re sad deadbeats, I get it.” It stalled the momentum compared to the daughters’ storyline.

Keanu Reeves felt… off. Look, I love Keanu, but in this movie he often came across like he was caught somewhere between bored and confused. Maybe it was him trying to slip back into Ted after 30 years, maybe it was just the clean-shaven look throwing us off, but he didn’t bring the same spark. Meanwhile, Alex Winter looked like he was having the time of his life, and the daughters (Samara Weaving & Brigette Lundy-Paine) honestly felt more like Bill & Ted than Bill & Ted themselves. It made the contrast hard to ignore.

Rufus’ daughter didn’t fully land. The idea of giving Rufus a daughter (Kristen Schaal as Kelly) was a nice way to honor George Carlin’s character, but the execution was shaky. Schaal’s awkward style of comedy just didn’t mesh with the tone the way Carlin’s calm authority did. Great in concept, less effective in practice.

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🎸 Final Thoughts

As a trilogy capper, this works. It’s not as fresh as the first, and it’s less bizarre than the second, but it lands somewhere in the middle: silly, heartfelt, and a decent send-off. Not perfect, but good vibes when you need them.

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⭐ Rating

7.5/10 🎶 A decent encore.

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⚠️ Spoiler Warning

From here on, full spoilers for Bill & Ted Face the Music.

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🌀 Spoilers

Bill and Ted realize they’ll never write the song in time, so they visit multiple versions of their future selves. Unfortunately, each version is worse than the last — bitter, divorced, alcoholic, or just plain miserable.

Meanwhile, Thea and Billie recruit historical and musical legends like Jimi Hendrix, Louis Armstrong, Mozart, and Ling Lun to form the ultimate supergroup.

Couples therapy fails when Bill and Ted can’t say “I love you” to their wives without also including each other in the sentence. (“I, and Ted, love you very much.”)

A subplot involves Dennis Caleb McCoy, a hilariously insecure robot assassin sent to kill Bill and Ted but who keeps apologizing, second-guessing himself, and ultimately joins the good guys.

Bill and Ted die (again) and reunite with Death in Hell. They patch things up, and Death rejoins Wyld Stallyns for the big finale.

The climax reveals that it isn’t Bill and Ted destined to save the world — it’s actually their daughters. With the help of their time-traveling band of legends, Thea and Billie unite all of humanity in one global performance.

The movie ends with the universe saved, but the finale cuts off abruptly: the camera zooms out to Earth while narration from the daughters explains the aftermath. It feels sudden, like there should’ve been more of a wrap-up for Bill and Ted themselves.