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| Bill and Ted's Weird Nightmare (PG) Rushed through production in order to cash in on the success of the previous films, this straight-to-video third entry in the series boasts only half the cast, and none of the charm, of it's predecessors. Alex Winter, who obviously had nothing better to do, returns as Bill, while Keanu Reeves, who had by this point moved on to bigger and better (paid) things, is replaced as Ted by the then (and evidently still now) unknown Australian actor Brad Condon, whose only previous credit was as an extra in a toothpaste advertisement. One of the main problems with the film is the lack of a coherent story. Even if you take notes it is still almost impossible to work out what was going on. The time-travel theme of the previous installments has been discarded in favour of a (presumably cheaper) story involving voodoo dolls filled with drugs, a pair of incompetent assassins, some laughably unconvincing zombies and a midget leper colony. It sounds great, but unfortunately the producers ran out of money before filming several crucial scenes (i.e. the ones where the plot is explained) and the resulting film makes no sense whatsoever. All of which would be forgivable if the film was actually funny - it is a comedy, after all - but sadly it doesn't even manage that. In fact, it manages to be so pathetically unfunny that you eventually begin to suspect the involvement of Michael Winner: scene after scene of inept slapstick, feeble dialogue, lame sight-gags and an abundance of predictable fart jokes make the previous films seem like works of genius in comparison. Even the usually reliable Christopher Walken fails to liven things up in his brief appearance as a sinister ice-cream man. Fans of the first two films, or anyone with taste, should steer well clear of this. It's a cheap, shoddy cynical cash-in, and everyone involved should feel thoroughly ashamed of themselves. ----- Tornado Dogfright |