Beavis and Butt-Head Do America movie review (1996)

The plot of the movie involves a deadly biological weapon that comes into the possession of B&B during a trip on which they encounter normal Americans, including a retired couple touring the west in their camper. Through a series of adventures unnecessary to describe, B&B eventually end up in the Oval Office (and there is a cameo for President Clinton). In between, the health and safety of the nation has been threatened, and B&B have used the retired couple's camper and several other locations for their most inventive and ambitious pastimes, which are masturbating and passing gas. They also have completely missed the point of everything that has happened to them, everything said to them, and everything around them.

It is impossible to feel any affection for B&B. They aren't lovable goofs, like Bill and Ted (of “Excellent Adventure” fame). Judge has stripped them of all redeeming qualities. Why, then, did “Beavis and Butt-Head Do America” hold my interest, and amuse and stimulate me--why was the movie so much fun? Because B&B represent an extreme version of people we see around us every day, and because the movie is radical and uncompromising: Having identified B&B as an extreme example of grunge, disaffection and cheerfully embraced ignorance, the movie is uncompromising in its detestation of them.

I make this point because it is widely but wrongly believed that “Beavis and Butt-Head” celebrates its characters, and applauds their sublime lack of values, taste and intelligence. I've never thought so. I believe Mike Judge would rather die than share a taxi ride to the airport with his characters--that for him, B&B function like Dilbert's co-workers in the Scott Adams universe. They are a target for his anger against the rising tide of stupidity.

B&B share another quality with Adams' Dilbert strip: The use of what the French call the “clear line” approach to cartooning and animation. The master of this style, Herge, used it in his Tin Tin books to create a world of extreme simplicity, in which nothing existed except exactly what was needed to fill the next frame and further the story. (Ernie Bushmiller's Nancy strip is another good example). The movie is not “fully animated” in the sense that “The Lion King” is, but its low-rent animation disguises a sophisticated graphic style and visuals that perfectly suit the material: The movie looks the way it should.

All of this is just another way of saying that the less you're like Beavis and Butt-Head, the more you might like this movie. On the other hand, B&B would probably enjoy it, too--if it was on television. I wonder if they would notice that it was about themselves.

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