Beavis and Butthead Do America

Summary

“We’re never going to score! Never!”

When I was about six years old, my family moved into a new house. One of the advantages of the move was that my new room upstairs – that I shared with no one – had two full beds and a small table that held a tiny black and white television. My parents also allowed the TV to be set up with a Comcast box which I think at the time had about 36 channels. We did not have any of the movie channels because my mother was at a period in her life where she wanted to keep out as many outside influences as possible for my little sister and myself. When I was eight years old, my world was consumed with attempting to sneak moments of viewing In Living Color or the holy grail of late night viewing Beavis and Butthead. It is hard to believe, but there was a huge uproar about Beavis and Butthead across the Bible Belt. The story that was always passed around was that a child had burned down his home after watching an episode of Beavis and Butthead. I don’t know if this occurred or if it was an urban legend, but the impact of the story caused fear mongering about the show and the potential danger it posed to the children. Of course, this was all ludicrous. I definitely was not idiotic enough to to want to emulate anything the characters on the show partook in. Anyone who watched the show and found themselves idolizing the two losers and perpetual virgins from the show would probably be a likely candidate for a Darwin Award. The rest of the country looked on as Mike Judge managed to create great comedy out of the plight of his two idiotic lead characters and the adults in their lives that took up various authority positions. 

Mike Judge is from Texas and has always been most at home when satirizing the things that he saw growing up and living there. The town of Midland that Beavis and Butthead inhabit feels like every other decent unassuming and occasionally white trash city in the Midwest and South. It is funny to think that this area is still not given much of a voice outside of Judge’s work which included the extremely successful series King of the Hill. Having grown up in Arkansas, his work reflected sights and people that we encountered everyday in Little Rock and in the state. I am not saying this as a knock on the state, as Judge does not try to talk down to the areas he parodies. Neither do I. 

As a lifelong fan of the series (I purchased all the DVDs of the series years ago and laughed as I watched every episode,) I was extremely excited to see that Paramount Pictures was releasing the theatrical outing of the pair Beavis and Butthead Do America on Blu-ray. I remember that my brother took me to see the movie in the theater as a birthday gift because I was only twelve at the time and the movie was PG-13. I had not seen the movie in about twenty years and it was a lot of fun to revisit it.

As the film begins, two white trash thugs enter Beavis and Butthead’s house and steal their TV set. Butthead awakens to a panic stricken Beavis and they begin to search for their television. Eventually they stumble into a hotel room where they encounter a grizzled character named Muddy (Bruce Eillis.) Assuming that Beavis and Butthead are two assassins that have been sent by Earl, Muddy explains to the boys that he wants them to go to Vegas and “do” his wife, Dallas. In exchange, he will pay them ten thousand dollars. They accept his proposal and he takes them to the airport and sends them on their way. When the actual assassins show up to Muddy’s room, Muddy assumes that the boys had been sent by his wife in another double cross so he begins to pursue them across the country. In Vegas, when they meet up with Dallas (Demi Moore) in her hotel room she offers to double the money if they “do” her husband. Realizing that they are interested in her sexually, she distracts them and sews a package into Beavis’s shorts. Dallas tells them to head to Washington and she will rendezvous with them there. Thinking they will finally score, they comply. They are unaware that they are carrying a deadly viral weapon that had been stolen from the government. As they travel the country, they are sought by vigilant ATF Agent Fleming (Robert Stack) who insists on cavity searches for everyone they encounter along the way. 

Beavis and Butthead Do America has aged incredibly well. It was one of the very last theatrical releases to use cell animation and to be shot on film. This style of animation was what I was accustomed to growing up. I have always felt like it was a warmer and more inviting form of animation. The digital sheen of the new films and animations feels colder and took away from the craftsmanship and small imperfections of the older hand drawn animated films. Rewatching the film I was reminded of everything that I loved so much about the animation techniques used in MTV’s Liquid Television, Aeon Flux, The Head, and Beavis and Butthead. I love to draw and as a child their hand drawn images were an inspiration to me as I would go to school and work in my art classes on my own drawings. 

The comedy in the film has aged just as well as the animation styles, although it is worth reminding people that the humor is crude. While crude, it is never hurtful, mean spirited, or appealing to the lowest common denominator in its jokes. The script by Mike Judge plays out like a longer and more adventurous episode of the series. Judge himself said that this was an overarching goal of the project, because he wanted to capture what was special about the show itself. Realizing that the film might have a better chance of being viewed in the future in terms of shelf life, he tried his best to encapsulate all of the best aspects of the show within the film. 

The film benefits from excellent voice acting from some well utilized familiar voices. The best voice acting in the film (aside from Mike Judge’s own inimitable voices) comes from Robert Stack. Stack had an unmistakable voice that anyone that grew up in the Nineties knew from Unsolved Mysteries. Stack had shown his impeccable ability to play things straight in comedic scenarios in the film Airplane!, and his work here is just as effective. Bruce Willis and Demi Moore are likewise great in their roles. They were fans of the television series and took a lot less money than their star status would demand to appear in the film. Rounding out the cast, Cloris Leachman is enjoyable as an aging gambler, and Greg Kinnear has a nice role as Agent Flemming’s befuddled second-in-command Agent Bork. Even David Letterman leant his voice as a Motley Crue roadie that Beavis and Butthead encounter in the desert. The film also benefits from some enjoyable musical moments from Rob Zombie (who also helped envision a memorable hallucination moment in the desert,) the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Englebert Humperdinck.

Beavis and Butthead always worked as a show because of the clever ways in which Mike Judge used his moronic characters. The show was far more clever than the political fallout that encircled it during its heyday. The film is a wonderful extension of that universe. At 81 minutes, the film also never outwears its welcome. Fans of the series will find themselves right at home watching the movie.

Video

The new transfer by Paramount Pictures is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 with an MPEG-4 AVC encode. Because this animation was made using hand drawn cell animation which was shot on film, Blu-ray presents much finer detail than prior releases. Clarity is solid with a nice layer of very fine grain over the picture. Mike Judge had discussed how pleased he was watching the film projected on a big screen because of the extra detail they had put into the film version of the show, and I agree with his assessment. The movie has never looked better.

Audio

Paramount Pictures have provided a very well done DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround track. When working on designing the score, John Frizell relied on his memories of large scale films from the Fifties and Sixties and approached the action onscreen with dramatic zeal. The result is a strong score that helps the film deliver its jokes and also makes the film feel much larger. The surround track provided from Paramount amplifies the best qualities of the score and the numerous musical contributions from bands. Fans will be pleased.

Supplements:

• Audio Commentary: Mike Judge and Animation Director Yvette Kaplan have an entertaining and frequently very funny discussion of the film in which Judge discusses numerous aspects that he took out and many lines that he almost took out. It’s a really entertaining track for fans of the show and film.
• The Big Picture : This enjoyable archival piece focuses on the success of the show and the production of the film which surprised everyone by becoming #1 at the box office its opening weekend.
• We’re Gonna Score! Scoring Beavis and Butt-Head Do America: Composer John Frizzell discusses his work on the film and the helpful hint regarding how to compose for the film he received from Elmer Bernstein.
• The Smackdown: A montage of action packed scenes from the movie.
• MTV News Celebrity Shorts: Jennifer Tilly, Steve Buscemi, and Snoop Dogg.
• Trailers 
• TV Spots

Overall Scores: 

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 3.5/5

Overall – 4/5

Beavis and Butthead Do America is exactly what fans would want out from a Beavis and Butthead movie. It’s a well written comedy that knows exactly what it is and is just short enough to avoid becoming tiresome. The guest vocal talents of Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, Cloris Leachman, and Greg Kinnear add to the enjoyment of the picture, but the film is almost stolen by the great voice acting of Robert Stack. It is truly inspired casting. The film’s comedy is essentially ageless because of the way that Mike Judge mined the idiotic main characters for clever jokes and well thought out satire whenever possible. The Blu-ray presentation is solid and a great upgrade over the prior DVD release. For fans of the show, this is well worth picking up!