Review: Goofballs Bill & Ted are as essential as ever in a most triumphant 'Face the Music'

If there’s proof time travel exists, it’s that the creators of 1989’s “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” have found a way to again harness that same goofball magic in a very bogus 2020.

Dusting off their dude-speak and air-guitaring skills after a few decades, Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves return as Bill S. Preston Esq. and Ted “Theodore” Logan for the new time-hopping comedy “Bill & Ted Face the Music” (★★★ out of four; rated PG-13; available on streaming and video platforms and in select theaters Friday).

Directed by Dean Parisot with a screenplay by original film writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, Bill and Ted’s third outing checks all the appropriate franchise boxes (real historical figures, sweet musical tunes, rad one-liners), puts a big stupid grin on your face, yet also brings a certain dignity and depth to these two ride-or-die best friends now in middle age.

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“Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey” in 1991 ended with Bill and Ted’s Wyld Stallyns band performing a most triumphant concert, although the ensuing years were not kind. Now viewed as has-beens – daughters Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine) and Thea (Samara Weaving) are their dads’ biggest fans – Bill and Ted struggle mightily to write the song destined to unite the world.

What they don’t know is that tune needs to get written, stat, as all reality is becoming unglued (Babe Ruth trading places with George Washington at Valley Forge, that sort of thing). When things seem bleakest, a messenger (Kristen Schaal) in a space pod arrives to take them centuries forward.

”They totally love us in the future, dude,” Bill says to Ted.

Well, not so much. Our heroes are told that they have 77 minutes and 25 seconds before they’re supposed to play this prophesied number or else, and it leads Bill and Ted to bunch into the time-traveling phone booth from the old days and steal the tune from their future selves.

With his comedy classic "Galaxy Quest," Parisot showed a distinct knack for melding absurdist comedy with characters so alive they touch your soul, and all that comes to bear successfully in “Face the Music.” Billie and Thea are a fresh and modern reimagining of the Bill and Ted template and the ones who get an excellent adventure this time, going back in time to assist their fathers and recruit a seriously epic band. Bill and Ted’s quest, however, is a lot more philosophical.

The dudes go to couples therapy with their forgiving wives (Jayma Mays and Erinn Hayes) early on in the film, but it’s a theme that plays out in a bigger way. Bill and Ted essentially need couples therapy with themselves as they navigate a “Christmas Carol”-type situation, visiting with different Bills and Teds (from hulking convicts to jerks with fake English accents) in order to hopefully get their excellent spirit back.

Everybody ends up in hell, where Bill and Ted need to have a chat with old bass-playing pal Death (William Sadler) from “Bogus Journey.” Kid Cudi (playing himself) shows up knowing a whole lot about the time-space continuum, but the breakout supporting character this go-round is Robot (a fabulous Anthony Carrigan), the Terminator-esque android sent from the future to kill Bill and Ted who hilariously suffers from insecurity and nervous breakdowns.

While “Face the Music” is best when you don’t think about it too hard, it's also a movie that knows exactly what it is and doesn’t bother to have an insincere moment. “Be excellent to each other” is not a throwaway saying, but a thoughtful mantra wired into the DNA of the movie and its stars. Each have done their own things in Hollywood (Winter is an ace documentary director, Reeves is an icon driving the Keanussance), and their Bill and Ted is a duo that feels as essential now as they ever did.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Bill & Ted Face the Music' review: Keanu, Winter return triumphantly