Beavis and Butthead Do America

365 Films

Entry #80

Beavis and Butthead Do America (1996)

Directed by Mike Judge

Speaking of pop culture icons that either attract or repel with very little wiggle room in between, Beavis and Butthead Do America faithfully continued the glorious style of the groundbreaking MTV animated series from whence it spawned.  It’s often a criticism to label an adaptation of a popular television show as simply a 90-minute extension of an episode, but to me, I can’t really consider any other way to go about it.  For example, the Beavis and Butthead movie was once actually considered as a vehicle for a live-action film (I can’t remember who they wanted to play Butthead but I feel like David Spade was on the Beavis wish list) and I don’t think I need to get into the laundry list of potentially catastrophic chain reactions that idea would induce.  That being said, it appears that as recently as the past couple of years, Mike Judge himself has actually entertained the idea and would like to do it should the need arise.  Just goes to show you how little I understand of the devious machinations that this business of show will throw at you in regards to content.  But getting back to the film, Beavis and Butthead Do America doesn’t try to expand the characters in any meaningful way and doesn’t attempt to radically alter the sense of humor perfected by the show in favor of something more universal and accessible to movie audiences.  It simply takes our two beloved morons and expands their environment to include a cross-country trip across these great United States.  The premise of the film is that when our intrepid heroes discover that their beloved TV (and reason for existing) is stolen, they embark upon a journey to recover it that will get them mixed up in a domestic terror ring, an FBI man hunt, the Hoover dam, and ultimately the White House.  Littered with their idiotically brilliant insights and continual thwarting of decent, every man Tom Anderson, Beavis and Butthead delivers to fans exactly what they get from the television show.  I can already hear the argument formulating at the tips of your tongues, “why would I pay my good money to watch something I can easily see for free on TV.”  My answer to that is, nowadays, most of you aren’t paying for movies at all so shut your mouth and secondly, who cares?  Beavis and Butthead is an enterprise that was built and succeeded in spite of its limitations.  It’s initial crude animation and lackadaisical pacing conveyed a world-view of a certain type of American youth that viewed life in this nation as crumbling at best.  The only defense these two had for a country as stupefyin’ as this one as was to adopt at even stupider, cruder, and ignorant world view while simultaneously tearing the embarrassing extravagance of our pop culture empire to pieces.  It only stands to reason that the film would honor the precedent set by the show and its DIY aesthetic and not give it some hoity-toity, high falutin’ cinematic make over (this is obviously a philosophical aesthetic view point of mine more than a visual one actually shown by the film.  It looks about as good as Beavis and Butthead could have looked at that time, so just go with my analysis).  There is also something to be said for seeing something on the big screen that was so personal to you and your experience watching it in a living room, and not only that, but watching it with a small, concentrated group of obviously like minded people.  This was a comedic cinematic concept that the Beavis and Butthead movie introduced to me and I have thoroughly embraced it ever since.  The most satisfying kinds of comedies to be seen in a movie theater are those that do not inspire huge, collective foot stomping guffaws.  They are the films that have a subtle stream of laughter coursing throughout, but one that bubbles up and crashes against the shore only occasionally.  You’ll hear little pockets of laughter from various corners in the theater and while there may not be unanimous consensus on what was considered to be “the best joke” of the piece, there is definite agreement that each audience member got at least a few jokes written solely for them.