BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICA (1996)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
(Originally reviewed in 1997)
They represent the ostensibly gross, stupid, stoned and horny teenagers of America. They are Beavis and Butt-head, the popular animated duo from MTV (created and voiced by director Mike Judge) whose only form of vocabulary is "Huh, huh, huh, huh. That was cool." A half-hour of these two nitwits is one thing, but a full hour-and-a-half!
Now, I did watch a couple of episodes of their MTV show during 1994 when they were quite popular. Their act was mildly funny, but it was also an accurate portrait of the dumb and dumber set of teens in the 1990's. They were nihilistic to the max! They rarely went to school and they didn't care about anything or anyone except...watching TV, particularly music videos.
This movie has the duo looking for their stolen television set. They get on a "DreamAmerica" bus, and are inadvertently branded as hitmen by the media. The FBI is pursuing them trying to retrieve a stolen device hidden in Beavis's shorts! All the naive Beavis and Butt-head want to do is score by bedding down with a tough chick named Dallas (voiced by Demi Moore).
"Beavis and Butt-head Do America" is repetitious and boring warranting only a few mild chuckles. The PG-13 rating defuses a lot of the jokes, and the movie suffers from too many bland gags and not enough social commentary on today's teens. The best scene is towards the end where Beavis overdoses on caffeine pills and coffee and literally goes berserk as he becomes "Cornhoolio." I also like the scenes with B & B trying to score with Dallas. It is also a pleasure to hear Robert Stack's voice as the FBI Agent Fleming, but even he gets monotonous. Beyond that folks, there's not much more. Hearing and listening to Beavis and Butthead's limited vocabulary for an inordinate amount of time is not what I would call good comedy or good satire. Wayne and Garth rule, if you ask me.
