Film Review: Beavis and Butthead Do the Universe

It’s hard to imagine a large audience demanding a sequel to the 1996 animated Beavis and Butthead film. Within minutes of the Paramount + original, Mike Judge’s talents are on full display with many laughs from the start. The realm of this movie is completely in the aburdist comedy genre, and yet you have to be really smart to do stupid comedy well for 90 minutes.

Beavis and Butthead (both voiced by Mike Judge) are mistaken for science geniuses and taken on a space mission where they are jettisoned into a black hole sending them forward in time to 2022. Thankfully, the fish-out-of-water jokes are kept to a minimum, though the confrontation of their out-of-time ignorance with modern technology and social attitudes provides some of the best moments.

The set piece regarding white privilege is worth the viewing alone, and there’s several laughs to be had there. There’s a fun subplot where Beavis grows closer to self-reflection and emotional intimacy through the sheer act of talking to a woman on the phone, though he doesn’t understand it’s only the voice assistant Siri.

There’s also an alternate universe “smart” Beavis and “smart” Butthead warning them about the dire consequences of space-time, and they admit that in no universe, with no iteration, have a Beavis or a Butthead ever “scored.” However, the duo managed to score with this mildly enjoyable sequel.