Review of Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996) by Thegodfatherson — 06 Jun 2013

Beavis and Butt-head are the no-brain buddies who laugh like worried sheep and move as gracefully as ironing boards. From their rightful place in front of the TV and on it the sedentary duo have been forced on to the celluloid highway.

The point is, barring the loss of the naff music videos, nothing much about Mike Judge's creation has changed. Under the happy delusion that someone will pay them to have sex with a beautiful chick, the pair get caught up in an international spy ring, with all roads leading to the White House and much classic American scenery studiously ignored in favour of obsessive word play.

This can pall after a while, yet what holds the interest is the attention to character, with B&B the latest incarnation of the Odd Couple. Beavis can't handle caffeine and hates the idea of flying. He's a '90s icon, but a jibbering fit on a plane highlights his acute discomfort with modernity.

The pair are also all at sea in pioneer country. In the film's finest moment, when the boys meet up with their roadie fathers in the desert, the cry from the heart is: 'We need a 7-Eleven!' Without a TV, they have no rightful place and only mind-altering substances can restore equilibrium.

With most mainstream US movies rabidly anti-drugs, this is a strikingly contrary message, rammed home by a splendid Butthole Surfers' song, which even the sober happy-clappy ending can't erase.