• Condition: New

• Format: DVD

• Anamorphic; Closed-captioned; Color; Dolby; DVD; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC

Two dopey dudes go back in time to fetch Beethoven, Napoleon and other biggies for a history project.

Honestly, what's not to love? Two clueless but loveable high school guys from 1988 use a telephone booth that travels through time to collect historical figures for their history report. This goofy-sounding plot is pulled off so astonishingly well that you never stop laughing.

So, what about historical accuracy? I'm going to go out on a limb and say that as far as comedies parodying history go, this one stays remarkably true to the characters of the historical figures. While they don't get enough on-screen time -- their interactions with modern-day San Dimas and with each other are for me the best parts of the movie -- you still get to see occasional small flashes of what makes them tick. Freud is intellectually curious, Napoleon is megalomaniacal, Joan of Arc thinks Ted must be a part of God's plan, and Billy the Kid tries to fit in with Bill and Ted while subtly attempting to flirt with Joan. (If you don't believe me on that last bit, watch the scene where they're washing dishes together.) Of course, some lines are played purely for laughs, like Socrates's profound revelation, "Like the sands of the hourglass, so are the days of our lives." But those lines are rarely done at the expense of a character's integrity. And before you come down too hard on Lincoln ending his speech at the history report with "Party on, dude," remember that in real life, Lincoln was our wittiest president, a man who contemporaries say could never pass up a joke.

So for those of you who don't mind your history tinged with a bit of irreverence, watch, relax, and enjoy, because somehow this movie just comes together. With its fast pace and cheerful sense of fun, it's one of the best comedies there is.

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