Excellent, dude!
Dude,what the hell?
Yes,
a few spoilers. Calm down.
I
saw Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
twice in one day when it was originally in theaters in 1989. It had time travel, hilarious quotable
one-liners and my hero, George Carlin. The movie made some money, had a sequel
and a cartoon show. There is also talk
of a third movie coming around, which I am too pessimistic to think will be any
good. You know I’ll see it anyway.
Bill
and Ted are two morons who travel through time collecting historical figures
for a very important history class presentation. (I’m not sure what high school social studies
class covers both Socrates and Billy the Kid, but I’ll shut up now.) They are
offered the use of the time machine through Rufus (Carlin), a visitor from the
future who says that all of human history depends on the two staying together
and forming a band that will eventually bring about world peace. So, it’s a comedy.
The
time travel is a little wonky. The
device is used for comedic purposes and it works very well. The time travelers
are idiots who barely understand what they are doing and each historical figure
is kidnapped and seemingly okay with wormholes and sharing a phone booth with
Genghis Khan. The phone booth is a rip-off of Doctor Who’s TARDIS, but only in size and shape. Creators of the
film abandoned the original idea of a van because it would seem like a rip-off
of Marty McFly’s DeLorean. The device is
secondary to the comedy which is driven by Bill and Ted and the rest of the
world’s seeming indifference to the fact that they have retrieved the actual
Beethoven to play live at a high school auditorium.
It
is loop time travel; at least it feels like a loop. Ted speaks to himself from earlier in the
evening, and the two make plans as the adventure continues to return through
time and aid themselves. Also, no
consideration is given to the gaggle of historical figures and what would
happen when they were returned. Lincoln has now met Socrates. You would think that would have some affect.
But who cares? Strange things are afoot
at the Circle K. This is a classic
eighties-era comedy and an original twist on the genre.
Hot Tub Time Machine
premiered not long after the enormous success of The Hangover, and it is just as funny, if not funnier. All the elements were there. A rated-R comedy, a bunch of guys drinking and
having ridiculous adventures. But HTTM
had the element of pathos and childhood regret among the nudity and f-words
that created a more rounded experience.
Three
sad guys and the nephew of the lead travel back in time. How? They spilled a
Russian sports drink on the controls of a shitty hot tub they once used as
young men in their early 20’s. The
whirlpool brings them back to the day of their favorite big weekend, and they
have assumed the bodies of their younger selves in the 1980’s. Chevy Chase
tells them they have until sunrise to return to the 21st century or
they will be stuck in the 80’s. No rhyme or reason. No electronic doo-dads. Just Chevy Chase as a
fairy godmother.
This is a blend of consciousness and single
string time travel. The guys go out to try to alter their future lives. The nephew tries to wrangle these idiots and
explain they are making serious changes to their own timelines, including
possibly undoing his own existence. But the guys are drunk and partying and
kinda sad. One meets another girl, one faces a bully, one follows a dream of
being a musician. All of the jokes are solid and there is a nice chunk of
satirizing the genre, including stealing the ideas for inventing things that
will eventually make billions.
The
humor works well, but the time travel drove me insane. I don’t care about a magic pool of time
travel water. The Chevy Chase character
is fine with me; he puts a time limit on the whole affair. Great.
But the ending is very unsatisfying in the traditional fictional
construct of a time travel movie. Like
Marty McFly, three of the four guys return to their lives and they have changed
for the better. In Marty’s case, life is
essentially the same. There are nicer
furnishings in the house, happier family, but the same girlfriend played by the
actress that will be replaced by Elizabeth Shue. But in HTTM
their lives are incredibly improved; one with a happy, successful marriage and
the other with a dream career. John
Cusack’s character sees photos on the wall of all the great times he and his
dream girl had in the last 25 years, and Craig Robinson’s character stands in
his recording studio in the business he built.
But they didn’t get the 25
years! The prize is the life they made, and they actually missed all of it! Not to mention there are 25 years of
experiences and memories they have no knowledge of whatsoever. The guys are
strangers in their own lives. The trips, the friends, the crises...all of
life’s moments are completely unknown to them.
They crossed the finish line but the price may have been too high. In fact, they should have stayed behind with
Rob Corddry’s character. Suicidal at the
beginning of the film, he relives his life more confident, happier and
rich. Maybe they can address these
issues in the sequel.
It
may be incredibly difficult to screw up a time travel comedy. There is so much grist for the mill of character
development, satire, and overreaction.
Both of these films succeeded and remain very watchable and fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment