Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

If you weren't around in '89, when this became a surprise cultural phenomenon, well, you kinda had to be there. Looking back with critical eyes, it's a rather thin, desperately low-budget production that doesn't probe beyond the superficial layer and constantly winks and nudges the audience to ensure they know when to laugh. Yet, recognizing all that, I found myself wrapped up in its oddly naive warmth and charismatic magnetism. The jokes and gags are hammy and contrived, but I still snickered. The most memorable lines are clumsy and blunt, but I gladly recited them (surprising myself, as I hadn't seen the film in twenty-plus years). Bill and Ted themselves are the narrowest of stereotypes, basically the male equivalent of Frank Zappa's valley girls, yet I felt a rich tingle of satisfaction when they saved their academic careers. It's one of those films that defies logic, succeeding in spite of itself, and there's something of value in that.