'Bill and Ted 3': The wisecracks

For years, it's been rumored that Bill and Ted, those lovable time-travelling slackers played by Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, would embark on a third cinematic adventure. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure hit theatres in 1989, followed by Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey in 1991, and yesterday, Reeves told MTV News that writers were just six weeks away from having a script for a third installment. He also revealed some details of the high-concept plot: "When we last got together, part of it was that Bill and Ted were supposed to have written the song that saved the world, and it hasn't happened," he told MTV's Josh Horowitz. "So they've now become kind of possessed by trying to do that." Naturally, the news that middle-aged Bill and Ted might actually rock on has commentators both oddly delighted and cracking wise. Here, a sampling:

Name game

Let's think of some potential titles, says Jenny Wilson in TIME. "Bill and Ted's Geriatric Jaunt anyone?"

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As needed

Great, says Travis Woods at ScreenCrave. "What the world needs now is for Hollywood to make a sequel to a sequel that was released two decades ago to a film franchise that is probably best left untouched and untainted by further cash-ins."

The truth comes out

Reeves' interviews with MTV's Josh Horowitz "are fast becoming the Frost/Nixon of Bill And Ted sequel news," says Sean O'Neal at The Onion's A.V. Club. But, it's "good to hear" that "the tune that unites all of humanity was not, as Bogus Journey hinted, merely a reworking of the KISS/Argent classic 'God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll To You.'"

Time will tell

Reeves' explanation of the plot leaves many unanswered questions, says James Battaglia at The Film Stage. I guess "we'll just have to wait a while — except those of you with time traveling phone booths."

In memoriam

"San Dimas High School football rules!" says Eric Eisenberg at Cinema Blend. "It's just too bad that George Carlin isn't still around to play Rufus."