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Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

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Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

PG

Released Feb 17, 1989

1h 30m

Comedy

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Popcornmeter

83%

Tomatometer

58 Reviews

75%

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250,000+ Ratings

Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) are high school buddies starting a band. However, they are about to fail their history class, which means Ted would be sent to military school. They receive help from Rufus (George Carlin), a traveler from a future where their band is the foundation for a perfect society. With the use of Rufus' time machine, Bill and Ted travel to various points in history, returning with important figures to help them complete their final history presentation.

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Critics Consensus

Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are just charming, goofy, and silly enough to make this fluffy time-travel Adventure work.

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Carrie Rickey

Philadelphia Inquirer

Though its one-liners elicit the occasional chortle -- when Bill and Ted don medieval armor, there's an obligatory heavy-metal joke -- the film doesn't engage, because its heroes don't engage with the historical characters.

Rated: 1.5/4

Oct 22, 2014

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Chris Willman

Los Angeles Times

Make no mistake, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is not a satire of mindlessness; it's unabashed glorification of dumbness for dumbness' sake.

Oct 22, 2014

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Variety Staff

Variety

Reeves, with his beguilingly blank face and loose-limbed, happy-go-lucky physical vocabulary, and Winter, with his golden curls, gleefully good vibes and 'bodacious' vocabulary, propel this adventure as long as they can.

May 30, 2007

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Sarah Vincent

Sarah G Vincent Views

The film seems to suggest that our traditional view of greatness in the contemporary US is virtually impossible, but it also democratizes what greatness can look like in a society like ours by elevating friendship, decency and good naturedness.

Jun 14, 2024

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Kristin Battestella

InSession Film

Sharp dialogue and air guitar exclamations provide chuckle worthy moments that have seeped into the cultural lexicon almost because of the terrible fashions, simplistic eighties effects, and the bizarre vision of a future utopia.

Jul 25, 2023

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Zoë Rose Bryant

Loud and Clear Reviews

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure has a supremely silly story that some may deem “dated,” but its classic charms - and Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves' pitch-perfect performances - are still just as entertaining as ever.

Rated: 4/5

Sep 1, 2022

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alan g

Very silly but I liked the historical characters.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/08/25

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Allan H

The deepest, most profound movie of all time. Jesus said to love God with all your heart etc, then to love your neighbor as yourself. Boy did we screw that up. That's because he got it backwards, but 2,000 years later a couple teenage screwballs (backed by Abraham Lincoln) got it strait. First, be excellent to each other. Then it all works, so we can party on!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/25

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Andy Z

I'll just say this: it's a movie whose message is what makes it one of the best ever. Never forget that. And be excellent to each other. Party on, dudes!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/18/25

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Jorge R

Not a top 5 movie. But It’s an awesome watch.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/08/25

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Ads T

Some great comedic ideas with the historical characters (such as Ludwig Van Beethoven testing new keyboards in a music shop) but the movie really seems to function as a bit of late night entertainment for stoners.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/07/25

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Ruby M

I love this movie!!! It's my absolute favorite movie!!! It's so good because there's time travel in it, and good humor in it. It's also a great way to learn about history. Also, Ted Logan is so cute!! ❤️❤️❤️ 😍😍😍

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/02/25

Full Review

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Stephen Herek

Director

Keanu Reeves

Ted Logan

Alex Winter

Bill S. Preston, Esq.

George Carlin

Rufus

Bernie Casey

Mr. Ryan

Amy Stock-Poynton

Missy Preston

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Synopsis

Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) are high school buddies starting a band. However, they are about to fail their history class, which means Ted would be sent to military school. They receive help from Rufus (George Carlin), a traveler from a future where their band is the foundation for a perfect society. With the use of Rufus' time machine, Bill and Ted travel to various points in history, returning with important figures to help them complete their final history presentation.

Director: Stephen Herek
Producer: Scott Kroopf, Michael S. Murphey, Joel Soisson
Screenwriter: Chris Matheson, Ed Solomon
Production Co: De Laurentiis, Interscope Communications, Nelson Entertainment
Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 17, 1989, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 28, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $39.1M
Runtime: 1h 30m
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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