At long last, the Wyld Stallyns must fulfill their destinies by writing the perfect song in Bill & Ted Face the Music – but what does its ending really mean? After spending several years stuck in pre-production, the third and supposedly final chapter in the cult hit Bill & Ted series was able to secure a green-light in 2019. Things didn’t get much easier for the Wyld Stallyns after that, either; due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Face the Music has abandoned its original theatrical release in favor of a day-and-date rollout on VOD and in select theaters. Co-writer Ed Solomon has applauded the move, however, and praised distributor MGM for giving those interested a chance to go on one more time-travel adventure with the slacker musicians from the safety and comfort of their homes.
By the point the film picks up (more or less in real-time after 1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and its 1991 sequel, Bogus Journey), William S. “Bill” Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) and Theodore “Ted” Logan (Keanu Reeves) are now middle-aged dads who’ve spent the last quarter century trying and failing to write the perfect song that will usher in a utopian society. But just as Ted is ready to finally call it quits, the pair are whisked away to the 28th century. There, they’re informed they have less than 78 minutes to create their perfect song or else the very fabric of the universe will fall apart.
Not knowing what else to do, Ted comes up with an idea: he and Bill will travel through time to find a future version of themselves who’ve already written the perfect song, and take it from them in order to use it and save all reality. Meanwhile, Bill and Ted’s daughters – Theodora “Thea” Preston (Samara Weaving) and Wilhelmina “Billie” Logan (Brigette Lundy-Paine) – get up to a little time-traveling of their own after Kelly (Kristen Schaal), the daughter of the late Rufus (George Carlin), agrees to let them borrow her time-travel machine and put together a band of the greatest musicians of all time to help their fathers. And did we mention there’s a neurotic robot named Dennis Caleb McCoy (Anthony Carrigan) who’s been sent to assassinate Bill and Ted by Kelly’s mom, The Great Leader (Holland Taylor), based on the idea that killing them might be the only other way to restore order to the universe?
How Does Time-Travel Work in Face the Music?
For a lowbrow comedy franchise, Bill & Ted has typically done a good job of abiding by a firm set of time-travel rules. That continues to be the case during Bill & Ted Face the Music, especially when it comes to Bill and Ted’s efforts to steal (though, as Bill reasons, it’s not really stealing when they’re taking it from themselves) the perfect song from their future selves. As Kelly explains to Bill and Ted, the “center of space and time” is located at Bill and Ted’s home city of San Dimas, California, at 7: 17 pm PST in 2020, on the same day she brought them to the future (precisely, 2720). This is also where and when Rufus believed the pair must perform the perfect song in order to bring humanity “into rhythm and harmony.” Thing is, they only have less than 78 minutes relative to them and when they left San Dimas before the entirety of time and space reaches that point and comes undone. So, unlike other time-traveling heroes, Bill and Ted are actually on the clock in this movie.
Like most time-travel stories, things begin to make less sense the further along the plot goes in Face the Music. Broadly speaking, though, the idea is by traveling further and further into a potential version of their future (one that only exists because they traveled into the future to begin with), Bill and Ted keep making things worse for their future selves in this iteration of the timeline. They even land them in prison at one point, after their future selves break into Dave Grohl’s house to try and fool their younger selves into thinking they’ve wealthy (and, uh, British), now that they’ve written the perfect song. Eventually, they reach a point in the future where their older serves are now living in a retirement facility and claim to have finally crafted the perfect song, which they’ve recorded onto a thumb drive for their younger selves. It you’re perplexed as to how they cracked the case when the previous future versions of Bill and Ted in this timeline could not, you’re right to be suspicious.
What the Perfect Song Really Is
After a detour to Hell and a reunion with William Sadler’s Grim Reaper from Bogus Journey (short version: it’s all Dennis’ fault), Bill, Ted, Billie, Thea, the Grim Reaper, Dennis, and the historical musicians Billie and Thea gathered together during their own time-travel adventure (Jimi Hendrix, Louis Armstrong, Ling Lun, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Grom, and Kid Cudi) all make their way back to San Dimas, just as reality is collapsing in on itself. With the thumb drive containing the perfect song, titled “Preston/Logan”, having been cracked in half (Bill did it but, again, it’s technically Dennis’ fault), all hopes seems lost… that is, until Bill and Ted realize “Preston/Logan” really refers to Billie and Thea and the group of musical artists they’ve gathered together, Bill and Ted included.
It’s not explicitly stated, but the implication is the older Bill and Ted came to the conclusion there was no perfect song and gave their younger selves the thumb drive as a clue to allow them to discover what they eventually realized: that their daughters hold the key to saving the world. While they might not be master song-writers themselves, Billie and Thea have a deep appreciation for all of music history and picked up the musicians they did specifically because they were all inspired by the ones that came before them (going back to Grom, the prehistoric drummer). Because of this, Billie and Thea are quickly able to teach all of them to play one of their original songs in harmony with one another. Bill and Ted then realize it’s not enough for them to play together, they also have to distribute instruments to musicians throughout all of human history and get them to play along, in order to truly unite everyone by using the power of music.
Face the Music’s True Meaning Explained
Thematically, Face the Music‘s true meaning is pretty clear-cut, but that’s only fitting for a franchise whose unlikely heroes have always abided by a simple, yet profound, philosophy: “Be excellent to each other, and party on dudes.” Of course, this is much easier said than done, which is where music comes into the equation. Different forms of artistic and creative expression have a way of bringing people together, and music, like every form of culture, builds upon everything that came before it. For that reason, it’s impossible for a single song to unify people unless it’s able to acknowledge the past, learn from it, and use that knowledge to make something meaningful for the future. And even then, it’s not really about the song, it’s about finding a way to move forward together where everyone is treated fairly and nobody is hogging the spotlight for themselves (like the Grim Reaper did with his extended bass solos, which led to him, Bill, and Ted breaking up their band all those years ago).
There are other equally general messages at the heart of Bill & Ted Face the Music, be it that older generations can learn as much from younger ones as they can from them, or there is no magical solution (like, a perfect song) or savior(s) who can fix everything; it’s on everyone to make a contribution, even if that means dancing on the side while others rock-out onstage (like Dennis – he really is just doing his best). They might be basic ideas when you break them down, but such is the wisdom of the Wyld Stallyns and their friends and family – and there’s nothing bogus about that.
