BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICA
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1996 Scott Renshaw
(Paramount) Voices: Mike Judge, Robert Stack, Cloris Leachman. Screenplay: Mike Judge, Joe Stillman. Producer: Abby Terkhule. Director: Mike Judge. MPAA Rating: PG-13 (profanity, adult themes) Running Time: 80 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
I'm sure there are people out there who view BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICAN as yet another sign that the end-times are upon us; they are probably the same folks who have condemned from day one the MTV series on which it is based as a celebration of violence, stupidity and lack of respect. Speaking as an admittedly defensive some-time fan of the show, I think "Beavis and Butt-Head" is much smarter and more self-aware than its detractors give it credit for being. Mike Judge created a series for MTV which takes aim at the generation of youth MTV helped create: kids without the attention span to sit through an entire music video. Do young viewers of the show sometimes delight in the anarchy and low humor without appreciating the sub-text? Probably, but the same statement is true of "The Simpsons," and no one would accuse "The Simpsons" of not being smart.
Then again, Bart Simpson is only ten; Beavis and Butt-Head are teenagers, scrawny packages of surging hormones and attitude, and BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICA captures them at their worst, which is to say their best. The story finds our heroes (both voiced by creator/director Judge) discovering that their beloved television has been stolen, and setting out to find it or any acceptable replacement. Instead, they find Muddy Grimes (an uncredited Bruce Willis), a shady character who thinks Beavis and Butt-Head are the two guys he's hired to "do" his duplicitous wife Dallas (an equally uncredited Demi Moore). The boys don't interpret "do" as "kill," however, and head for Las Vegas where thy think they are finally about to score. Dallas has other ideas, though, and uses the dim-witted pair to transport a stolen military germ warfare weapon to Washington D.C. As Beavis and Butt-Head make their way across America, they are chased by ATF Agent Fleming (Robert Stack), a hard-nosed Fed with an unusual fondness for body cavity searches.
There's no point in pretending that BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICA doesn't traffic in plenty of below-the-belt gags -- and above-the-belt, where women are concerned -- because that is the level of Beavis and Butt-Head's sense of humor. Sex, masturbation, gas and other toilet functions all send the twosome into paroxysms of their trademark immature snickering, yet Judge stages many of these moments with a knowing wit. A stylized montage of high-rolling Vegas action, which in most films would find the heroes living it up and enjoying the big time, instead finds Beavis and Butt-Head unable to stop staring at a bare-breasted ship's figurehead; another scene has them missing a bus thanks to their fascination with auto-flush urinals. While Beavis and Butt-Head find only sexually suggestive town names worth noting on their trans-continental trek, Judge allows the audience to recognize that he too understands how idiotic they are.
That is not to say that a little Beavis and Butt-Head doesn't go a long way. Even fans of the series might find 80 minutes of their antics getting repetitive, particularly when connected to a standard "mistaken identity" premise in which morons take such bizarre actions that they are assumed to be brilliant. The series also benefits from the commentary on music videos which breaks up each episode's plot, and that commentary is missed in BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICA. Its absence removes the rare opportunities you have to witness how selective their obliviousness can be as they analyze the cliches of videos. Judge tosses in some clever bits unrelated to the series, including a great opening credits sequence scored to a "Shaft"-like Isaac Hayes tune and voice cameos by Cloris Leachman and a fellow credited as "Earl Hofer" (David Letterman's nom-de-cinema in CABIN BOY), but most of the gags are directed squarely at fans of the show. The uninitiated might find themselves baffled at the applause which goes up for Cornholio, Beavis' caffeine- and sugar-fueled alter-ego.
A keen grasp of reality prevents me from attempting anything like a conversion of "Beavis and Butt-Head" haters. Hard-core opponents consider them not just annoying but actively evil, an animated pair of potty-mouthed Pauly Shores sucking the collective will to think out of the heads of America's impressionable youth. But BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICA, crude though it may be, is more genuinely inventive than SPACE JAM and 101 DALMATIANS combined, and less insulting to the intelligence of younger viewers. All it takes is a very funny moment which underscores the futility of Butt-Head trying to piece together a rather elementary crime scene to point out that dumb characters don't have to mean a dumb movie. BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICA overcomes its fundamental dopiness to provide entertainment for those prepared to laugh with its self-absorbed protagonists _and_ those prepared to laugh at them.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 TV nations: 7
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