Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Play trailer

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

PG

Released Feb 17, 1989

1h 30m

Comedy

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

83%

Tomatometer

58 Reviews

75%

Popcornmeter

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.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Buy Now

Critics Consensus

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

Read Critics Reviews

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

Full Review

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

Full Review

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

Full Review

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

Full Review

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

Full Review

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

Full Review

Read all reviews

alan g

Very silly but I liked the historical characters.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/08/25

Full Review

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

Full Review

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

Full Review

Jorge R

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

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/08/25

Full Review

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

Full Review

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

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

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

View more videos

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

56%

56%

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

Watchlist

Out on a Limb

20%

45%

Out on a Limb

Watchlist

The 'Burbs

56%

71%

The 'Burbs

Watchlist

The Gods Must Be Crazy II

50%

70%

The Gods Must Be Crazy II

Watchlist

Defending Your Life

98%

83%

Defending Your Life

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

12 Best Star Wars References in Film

Sing, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Superbad and More on Netflix and Amazon Prime This Week

Tomatopalooza: Cinema’s Greatest Fake Bands

View more photos

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)

Most Popular at Home Now