“Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” (1989) is “a stoner movie.”

A “stoner movie” is a film comedy centered on the use of marijuana.

Cheech and Chong made several movies from 1978-1985, starting with “Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke” (1978), that typify the stoner movie genre.

Dozens of films in the stoner movie genre, which goes back to “Reefer Madness” (1936), an anti-marijuana feature film that has cult status, include “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” (1982), “Clerks” (1994), “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” (2004), “Pineapple Express” (2008), “Hansel & Gretel Get Baked” (2013) and “Grow House” (2017).

“Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” is ranked No. 8 on Rolling Stone magazine’s “10 Best Stoner Movies of All Time.”

And now we face “Bill and Ted Face the Music.”

“Movie Maven” Michael Gontkosky pointed out before we saw “Bill & Ted Face the Music” at Banko Cinemas, ArtsQuest Center, SteelStacks, Bethlehem, that it’s a film with one of the longest lengths of time between sequels: 29 years from the release of “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey” (1991).

The sequel gap for “Mary Poppins Returns” was 54 years; for “Blade Runner 2049,” 35 years, and for “Mad Max: Fury Road,” 29 years.

Unlike “Blade Runner 2049” and “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Bill & Ted Face the Music” doesn’t stand the test of time.

Then again, “Bill & Ted Face the Music” is a stoner movie. I was as sober as a saint when I saw “Bill & Ted Face the Music.” I don’t partake of marijuana, I don’t drink alcohol prior to reviewing a movie. A lot of the humor may have been, ahem, over my head.

I doubt it, though. For a comedy, “Bill & Ted Face the Music” is mind-numbingly unfunny.

Dean Parisot (Oscar recipient, short film, live action, shared with Steven Wright, “The Appointments of Dennis Jennings,” 1988; director, “Fun with Dick and Jane,” 2005; director, “Galaxy Quest,” 1999) does what he can with the bland screenplay by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon (screenwriter, “Now You See Me,” 2013; screenwriter-director, “Levity,” 2003), who co-created the characters of Bill and Ted and co-wrote the screenplays for “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” and “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey.”

The screenplay for “Bill & Ted Face the Music” has a paucity of clever ideas, punch lines and comedy.

What’s not to like?

Plenty.

The movie appears to be filmed in Lame-O-Rama. Cinematically, it’s flat and uninteresting. The special effects are laughable. Better images have been seen in films made with iMovie and Zoom.

Bill and Ted in the personages of Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves, respectively, have, to put it kindly, aged out of their roles.

The supporting cast is also filmed in unflattering light and camera angles, including Kristen Schaal (Kelly), Holland Taylor (The Great Leader) and Kid Cudi (as himself).

Even Death (William Sadler, reprising his role as the Grim Reaper from “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey”) is warmed over.

There are two break-out roles: Thea, Bill’s daughter (Samara Weaving) and Billie, Ted’s daughter (Brigette Lundy-Paine, who is fascinating in mimicking Ted’s mannerisms).

In “Bill & Ted Face the Music,” Bill (Alex Winter), and Ted (Keanu Reeves) are middle-aged, but still have delusions of saving the world by writing and recording a hit song with their rock band, Wyld Stallyns.

Obviously, they never heard The Ohio Express’s “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy” (1968).

In “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” the two slacker buddies travel in a time machine shaped like a phone booth to bring back famous people to San Dimas, Calif., for their high school history class presentation. It was a simple premise, helped along by the presence of George Carlin as Rufus, a sort of intergalactic mentor.

In “Bill & Ted Face the Music,” the plot is still powered by time travel, the phone booth is still the preferred vehicle, Bill and Ted often still speak in unison and start or conclude their nearly every pronouncement with “Dude.”

This time, pun intended, Bill and Ted travel back and forth to face versions of themselves at different ages, including two old men in a home for the elderly. Members of Credit Readers Anonymous will want to stay to the very, very, yes, very end after the closing credits to view an extended scene of Bill and Ted, which happens to one the funniest scenes, in addition to a scene involving Death, in the movie.

“Bill & Ted Face the Music” is rather dated, which is ironic since it’s a time-travel film.

Texting an Uber and having the phone booth arrive would have been humorous. Utilizing contemporary social media platforms, such as facebook’s facetime, Twitter and Instagram, would have provided funny fodder. Taking measure of our celebrity-cult culture would have provided, to quote a cliché, a veritable plethora of material. And I would have written better scenes and dialogue for the daughters and the daughters and their dads.

I had better stop, or else, the next “Bill & Ted’ sequel might be written right before your eyes.

You wouldn’t want that.

Or would you?

Credit Readers Anonymous:

Yes, that’s Weezer performing its song, “Beginning of the End (Wyld Stallyns Edit),” during the closing credits of “Bill & Ted Face the Music.” Quantum physicist Spiros Michalakis was science advisor for the film.

“Bill & Ted Face the Music,”

MPAA Rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned: Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13) for some language; Genre: Science-Fiction Adventure Comedy; Run time: 1 hr., 31 min. Distributed by Orion Pictures-United Artists Releasing.

Movie Box Office,

Sept. 25-27: “Tenet” continued at No. 1 four weeks in a row, $3.4 million, 2,850 screens, $41.2 million, four weeks. 2. “The New Mutants” stayed in place, $1.1 million, 2,305 screens, $19.4 million, five weeks. 3. “Unhinged” drove up one place, $1 million, 2,182 screens, $17.1 million, six weeks. 4. “Star Wars Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back” zoomed back into the Top 10 with $908,000, 2,097 screens, $1.9 million, 11 weeks. 5. “Infidel” dropped two places, $745.000, 1,885 screens, $2.6 million, two weeks. 6. “The Broken Hearts Gallery,” $470,000, 2,221 screens, $3.2 million, three weeks. 7. “Shortcut,” $305,000, 725 screens, opening. 8. “The Last Shift,” $235,000, 871 screens, opening. 9. “Kajillionaire,” $215,000, 529 screens, opening. 10. “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run,” $140,000, 261 screens, $4.4 million, 261 screens, seven weeks.

Unreel,

Oct. 2:

“Possessor Uncut,”

No MPAA Rating: Brandon Cronenberg directs Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Sean Bean in the Science-Fiction Horror Thriller. An agent works for a secret organization that implants devices in people’s brains that cause them to commit assassinations for high-paying clients.

“2067,”

No MPAA Rating: Seth Larney directs Kodi Smit-McPhee, Ryan Kwanten, Leeanna Walsman and Deborah Mailman in the Science-Fiction film. A man journeys to the future to save a dying world.

“12 Hour Shift,”

No MPAA Rating: Brea Grant directs Angela Bettis, David Arquette, Chloe Farnworth and Mick Foley in the Comedy Horror Thriller. A nurse and her cousin attempt to find a replacement kidney for an organ trafficker.

“Spontaneous,”

MPAA Rated R: Brian Duffield directs Katherine Langford, Piper Perabo, Charlie Plummer and Chelah Horsdal in the Science-Fiction Comedy Fantasy. When school students begin to explode, two seniors try to survive.

“A Call to Spy,”

PG-13: Lydia Dean Pilcher directs Sarah Megan Thomas, Stana Katic, Radhika Apte and Linus Roach in the Biography Drama War Thriller. Great Britain Prime Minister Winston Churchill orders the spy agency Special Operations Executive to recruit women and train them as spies at the beginning of World War II.