Bringing “Beavis & Butt-head” back sounded like a terrible, no good idea.
The ’90s numbskulls are a terrible fit for our all woke, no joke age. Their incessant sex talk alone is problematic.
“Beavis and Butt-head Do the Universe” doesn’t change the boys a bit. It’s as crude and sexually obsessed as ever, and the film features a glorious attack on so-called White Privilege.
Best of all? Absence did make the heart go fonder for dimwits who make Harry Dunne and Lloyd Christmas look like rocket scientists.
Our “heroes” stumble their way to space camp after destroying their school’s science fair exhibit. The lads’ penchant for sexual metaphors lands them a gig on a real space shuttle, and that’s where the time-traveling plot kicks in.
The boys sabotage the mission and enter a black hole. The snafu catapults them from the ’90s to 2022, but their space commandeer (Andrea Savage) is hot on their trail. She’s now a governor with political ambition to burn, and the boys’ survival threatens her ascent. (The news reported they died on the space shuttle)
Except the boys think she just wants to score with them. Of course.
RELATED: ‘Office Space’ at 20: Why Mike Judge’s Comedy Still Rules
That plot sets a series of farcical bits in motion, and they’re shrewdly calculated to move a show known for brevity to the 90-minute mark.
It works.
Beavis falls in love with Siri, the iPhone voice assistant. Cornholio returns in a way that’s both daffy and clever. And, at every turn, the boys’ raging stupidity works to their advantage.
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“Universe” laps “Beavis & Butt-head Do America,” the 1996 theatrical extension of the MTV series. The jokes land better and the story rarely lags. The screenplay, credited to show creator Mike Judge and Lewis Morton, does more than milk a few recurring bits for real laughs.
They upend woke expectations on several fronts.
A dated reference to “Touched by an Angel” lets the story savage “soft on crime” policies. A throwaway line compares Antifa to MS-13, something few other comedies would bring up.
The boys also stumble into a Gender Studies class where they learn all about White Privilege.
We can do anything we want because we’re white? Cool.
Except their very existence shatters the White Privilege lie. These boys are like many teens out there in the ’90s and now. They’re white, lower middle class and possess little cultural clout. And it took a character named Butt-head for pop culture to expose it.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Judge resisted woke’s siren song. He previously created “The Goode Family,” a short-lived sitcom mocking social justice types before we began using that phrase.
His long-running “King of the Hill” sitcom mocked Texas culture without the mean-spirited edge others might have brought to the gig.
The animation here is perfunctory, of course. The animated shorts of yore were always below the industry norm. “Universe” isn’t as hard to watch as those classic “B&B” episodes, which makes it less of a distraction.
The biggest miracle of all? Judge’s singular voice work as both Beavis and Butt-head feels as fresh as ever. Their incessant laughter and ability to find sexual references in every third sentence remains a hoot.
“Beavis and Butt-head Do the Universe” proves some Hollywood nostalgia acts can surprise us.
HiT or Miss: “Beavis and Butt-head Do the Universe” has no interest in removing the characters’ problematic tics, and that’s reason enough to savor their return.
Hey, how’s it going?
Mmmhmhmmheh.
Man, I hope Daria makes a cameo in this movie. She was never down with Current Thing. It would be a total hoot to have her suddenly have to deal with these two again, however briefly, after so many years.
They aren’t the heroes we want. But they are the heroes we need…
Is every in this comment section braindead? He literally gave the movie a positive review.
Lol. Y’all made clowns of yourselves and proved a point.
Sad
Great
LMAO here’s the thing: the left can take a joke at their own expense and laugh at themselves. The right can’t. The right can’t do comedy.
Hilarious! Nicely lampooned!
Safe assumption that you’re dyslexic?
Nope. Sarcasm.
Very interesting review. I remember catching B&B do America and not really liking it or even finding it relevant at the time, and I enjoyed the MTV cartoon.
It sounds like Judge has gotten better with time by maintaining our two anti-heroes as time travelers from the past. It sounds like a very clever concept and one that can be effectively used to lampoon the madness of our time.
So sick of all the new age p****ies. Can’t handle some adult cartoons. Clearly they aren’t adults. So go back to the kiddie pool sissies!
heheh. heheheheh.
This movie was amazing. But I don’t think it really “shredded white privilege.” I think you needed it to. This whole article reeks of a person who is so desperate for something, anything to justify your impotent way of thinking.
da, comrade …. Tu tavarishch
Triggered lil Nancy.
This movie upsets me because I’m a big fat libtard.
Hahahahaha ….wait, did I offend you?! Waaaaahhhh
Nah, just a piece of s*** who can’t handle the truth.
okay, this is epic
I’ve always thought that these two reminded me of a couple of guys that I went to high school with.
As my cousin once said, you either _knew_ guys like that or you _were_ guys like that.
Or heck, both.
Sounds like this site needs something better to do than spreading Conservatard propaganda..
That’s not very inclusive.
This movies not for everyone
Lol! Of course it is. Laugh
Your mom is calling, she wants you to pick up the dog poop, wash your stinky hippie laundry, and stop being a neo marxist libturd.
Andddd burn your man bra
Well, you have maxine, that dude maddow, and msnbc…we have Beavis and Butthead. We win.
He literally gives a positive review …
Ahhhh ….poor snowflake, Run run run to your safeplace
Cuz libidiots like you, are so under represented?
Sounds like you need to grow a thick skin, groomer.
When I was a boy, many, many moons ago, liberals were funny. They produced artists like Steve Martin and George Carlin, who made everyone laugh.
Now, liberals are no longer funny- they gave up comedy for affirmation theater, simply repeating Democrat talking points for applause. There are exceptions- Dave Chapelle for one- but they are vilified by the left because they make conservatives laugh.
The funniest comedy now comes from the right, while the left simply shrieks and burns stuff.
Wow.
Hahahaha right wing comedians are pure garbage.
I swear your what’s wrong with America now! If you don’t like the turn it TF OFF! Don’t txt in a comment saying how upset you are you thin skinned fairy!!!
Are you vaccinated? Trump said to get the vaccine. You got the vaccine. His voters refused. Who is the brainless Trumptard?
You mean libtard ignorance?
I thing YOU are why this movie is so funny!
https://valerietarico.com/2021/12/15/an-excess-of-woke-thinking-may-harm-mental-health-or-relationships/
oy vey! give all your money to israel goy
Limp twisted Liberals will always have trouble hearing the truth. Take care weak liberal.
Crybaby
Boo Hoo
U are a fartnokker on steroids buttmunch Democrat!!!
You’re just so mad at everyone and everything, aren’t you. Try a good, long look in a mirror to find out why.