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One of the most important “rules” of screenwriting is that your main character needs to change. Not just throughout the movie, but even a little bit at the end of each scene. But part of the appeal of so many classic screen clowns is that they don’t change — or at least when they do, they start all over again for the next movie. The Three Stooges will never resolve their differences peacefully. Hardy will always blame Laurel. Costello can never learn to be as brave as Abbott. And Beavis and Butt-head, despite the occasional lifeline thrown at them by the misguided kindness of the likes of hippie teacher Mr. Van Driessen, will remain dumb, destructive, nacho-loving horndogs who rarely get any closer to actual intercourse than an accidental double meaning. All that is to be said Beavis and Butt-Head make the universe is pretty much what you’d expect – and it’s, uhhhhh, pretty cool.
At 86 minutes and a fairly limited cast, this is closer to those movie-length streaming episodes of South Park than it is Beavis and Butthead do America, which had multiple storylines, flashy larger-budget sequences, and significant roles for fan-favorite supporting characters like clueless Korean War veteran Tom Anderson. But apart from a short sequence at the beginning BABDTU, none of the duo’s usual foils and enemies play a role in the plot. And for those interested in such things, it breaks canon, sending Beavis and Butt-head from 1998 through a black hole into 2022, thereby negating the existence of the Season 8 timeline (aka The Mike Judge Collection Volume 4) where you piloted and observed drones dusk. That said, it also adds some enticing tidbits to the mythology, such as Beavis’ mother’s name and her actual address.
Most importantly though – and the trailers have already spoiled this – it creeps up Rick and Morty, and all other “Multiverse” films and shows by introducing the notion of infinite variants of Beavis and Butt-Heads throughout the universe. Dubbed Smart Beavis and Smart Butt-head and dressed like Marvel’s Watchers, two of them enter the plot here, occasionally and vainly attempting to run their dumber selves. As in Make America, the plot is set in motion when Beavis and Butt-head misunderstand an attractive woman’s offer to “really do it”. Since Serena, the woman in question, is an astronaut, this puts the duo on board the space shuttle and is subsequently flung through time. By 2022, Serena is a successful politician who is convinced she killed the boys while they, in turn, are still determined to make them keep their promise.
Making Beavis and Butt-head walking anachronisms, like the main family in it The Brady Bunch Movie This might sound like a cheap gimmick, but it’s essential to any new audience’s ability to connect with them. In director/creator Mike Judge’s high school days and the ’90s, the stupid teens who wore heavy metal t-shirts every day would blow up animals with fireworks, laugh at every sex joke, and “never score.” would, probably forgotten, end up in dead-end jobs in some small town. Nowadays, however, these guys are on 8chan planning school shootings and sharing Nazi memes. Remember MTV’s conscious attempts after the show’s first season to make the Doofus duo the sole victims of their own stupidity, after initially portraying them as genuinely malicious delinquents who smoked, mugged Mexican kids for fireworks, and off Fun inhaling stove gas. Not being able to use the Internet also bypasses many current problems.
(It’s still amusing to note that AC/DC and Metallica jerseys remain a staple of both eras.)
Interestingly, though, the film goes to extra lengths to show at least one actual death this time, caused by Beavis and Butt-head’s antics, despite the fact that it’s a disposable item that’s never mentioned again. For the most part, they still damage themselves more than anyone else while also doing massive damage. As always, Judge makes it clear that society is not blameless here – numerous adults and authority figures just don’t pay enough attention to these two idiots. But it’s also clear that even if someone took care of it, it wouldn’t help much. Butt-head’s constant abusive behavior towards Beavis is easily interrogated, but in the end, Beavis’ libido and pyromania will draw him back to his greatest enabler time and time again.
In the film’s funniest sequence, Beavis and Butt-head learn about the concept of white privilege and abuse it for anything it’s worth. It’s not clear what Gen Z will make of all this, but it’s not necessarily made for them. Beavis and Butthead make the universe is a movie for the fans of the 90’s whose creator is included in this denomination in particular. It taunts us that they come home 14 years later and don’t meet older versions of well-known supporting players, but that’s presumably sequel fodder if needed.
With Titmouse doing the animation, the artwork looks a bit odd this time, with some supporting characters looking more like it archer rejects rather than judge grotesques. No doubt that sped up production, but it’s not quite the same. But at least the humor is. You know exactly what kind of jokes you’re getting with these two, and it’s all in the delivery.
Yes. your delivery rules. It reigns! Heh heh m heh heh.
