Classic Movie Review: Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996)

I was always a bigger fan of Beavis and Butt-Head's spin-off series Daria than the show this movie was based on. That is until I saw the movie that Mike Judge put them in when I was a teenager. Now I know what you're thinking, that this is a movie only teenagers will like, but that's not so. After revisiting it for the twentieth anniversary of it's release, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America is just as funny as it was then and it's still funny now that I am an adult.

Beavis and Butt-Head (Mike Judge) wake up one afternoon to find that their TV has been stolen. After looking around town for it, or a new one, they stumble across Muddy (Bruce Willis), a drunken thief who mistakes them for hitmen sent by an associate. Muddy wants them to travel to Las Vegas to murder his wife and retrieve a package from her. But the horny teenagers get confused and think he wants them to have sex with her instead. When they get there, however, Dallas (Demi Moore) decides to use them to her own end and have them transport a biological weapon to Washington DC. Of course this is unknown to the two boys and they are oblivious to the fact that ATF Agent Flemming (Robert Stack) has placed them on a most wanted list.

I'll admit that the jokes may seem juvenile, but they are still pretty funny. Agent Flemming's obsession with cavity searches for anyone and everyone regardless of their innocence ("Don't stop till you reach the back of their teeth") is hilarious. Especially since each order is given with the utmost seriousness. Beavis' poor reaction to sugar resulting in him turning into The Great Cornholio still works every time, despite the inherent silliness of the gag. And of course, who cannot like the pseudo-music video of The Red Hot Chili Peppers being turned into Las Vegas lounge singers doing their version of 'Love Rollercoaster'.

The main attraction of this movie for me is the amount of celebrity voices that the movie contains. Bruce Willis and Demi Moore do a fantastic job as the backstabbing husband and wife thief duo and Cloris Leachman) is hilarious as the old lady who thinks that Beavis and Butt-Head are just the sweetest things she has ever met. Greg Kinnear is fantastic as Flemming's offsider Agent Bork who is always to please his boss with the correct grammar. Cameos from Boyhood director Richard Linklater as a tour bus driver and David Letterman as Butt-Head's dad are small but perfect.

Right from the outset you know this movie is going to be different from other stoner comedies. Whether it's the two main characters destroying a city in their dreams or the opening titles being a homage to 70s cop shows, you never know what this one is going to throw at you, but whatever it is, you know you'll have a good time.

80's Action Movie: Die Hard (1988)

I think the secret to good Bruce Willis acting must have been in his hair. Also the simplicity of having one man fighting off twelve terrorists rather than an army of goons like a video game is much more believable.

Apart from Pulp Fiction, this is the only role Willis has done that I like (admittedly I haven't seen that many). His portrayal of tough New York cop John McClane isn't as contrived as I thought it would be. His reactions to the situations he finds himself in seem genuine enough. The wisecracks he spouts are just about on par with the ones said by James Bond, so that also scores points in my book.

The other performance that has ensnared me is Alan Rickman (Professor Snape in the Harry Potter series) in his debut performance in a film as terrorist leader (or is he?) Hans Gruber. Rickman's performance is bafflingly good for someone in his first movie role. It feels like a performance from a veteran actor and yet he does a better job on his first go than many distinguished Hollywood actors have given in other films.

Another thing I love about this film is the overall vibe of the film. It hasn't dated like many other action films from the 80's, nor does it have that cheesy feeling that was so prevalent in any film from the decade. Instead it has a sort classy style, the fashion is not too horrendous and the decor is not too garish to distract this modern viewer from the story. (Although I did grow up thinking a stretch limousine like the one in the movie was the coolest thing possible. It has a TV in it!)

And I like this story. It's simple yet when you look at it closely there are some deep layers. A group of so-called terrorists break into a Los Angeles corporation building to steal $640 million in bearer bonds. (See, they were kind of bank robbers after all). But of all people to be trapped in the building with them is the aforementioned New York cop, who really doesn't take kindly to being taken hostage and begins his one man war on the bad guys (but this one man war is much more believable and realistic than in Commando, trust me).

See, this one man war does have guns and it does have explosions, but apart from one massive explosion, all the fighting is relatively small and contained (and I use relatively lightly, there's a lot of property damage done). The setting of an office building really helps this along.

Verdict: Actually a very decent action movie that isn't too over the top.