Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Amiable slackers Bill and Ted are once again roped into a fantastical adventure when De Nomolos, a villain from the future, sends evil robot duplicates of the two lads to terminate and replace them. The robot doubles actually succeed in killing Bill and Ted, but the two are determined to escape the afterlife, challenging the Grim Reaper to a series of games in order to return to the land of the living.
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey earns its cult status largely through sheer imaginative audacity — the decision to actually kill off the protagonists early and send them through a gonzo afterlife adventure (complete with Ingmar Bergman parody and a sympathetic Death playing Clue and Battleship) gives it a truly distinctive comic voice. The Grim Reaper as a recurring comedic foil is genuinely inspired and elevates Novelty well above the norm for early-90s comedies. Acting is cheerfully committed from Reeves, Winter, and William Sadler's scene-stealing Death, though nobody is stretching dramatically. Cinematography is functional at best — the afterlife sequences have some visual flair but the production feels modestly budgeted throughout. The plot is agreeably anarchic but loosely constructed, held together more by comedic set-pieces than narrative logic. The ending wraps things up satisfactorily if somewhat hurriedly, delivering the expected triumphant resolution without much surprise.