The Californian surfer/metalhead/stoner dude has a kind of intrinsic comic appeal, but has been deployed to better effect elsewhere—in virtually in every instance, actually—from Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead (1991) to Wayne’s World (1992) to Clueless (1995). Keanu Reeves is a pretty looking lightweight—kind of a tall Tom Cruise with no edge—but it’s expecting a lot of anyone in his 50s to convince as such a character, and in this he looks more like a waxwork than a real person, even if he has been dealt a dud hand, dialogue wise.
Rock ‘n’ roll as a medium to solve problems, or save the world, is a nice conceit—but it was done far better in School of Rock (2003)—a work of genius that uses Jack Black’s talents to optimal effect, and has the sense to include genuinely interesting music—whereas, bizarrely, Bill and Ted 3 features no songs at all, let alone original ones. Even more problematic, the creators forgot to include jokes—and, while the best moments may trigger the occasionally smirk, the writing seems churned-out, and there are no laughs as such—which is a bit of a bummer for a comedy.
School of Rock (2003)
FATAL VISIONS 