Bill and Ted are two loser high school students who aren't terribly bright. They have a band called the Wyld Stallyns, which really sucks. They're also failing history. If Ted (Keanu Reeves) fails history, he'll have to go to military school. The only way they can pass is if the get an A+ on their history presentation which is due tomorrow. Little do they know that the future of the human race depends on their band's success, and if Ted goes to military school, the band is no more. So, the government from the future sends a messenger (George Carlin) with a time machine to help Bill and Ted.
So, Bill and Ted travel back in time collecting historical figures (Billy the Kid, Napoleon, Socrates, Gengis Khan, Joan of Arc, Sigmund Freud, Ludwig Van Beethoven, and Abraham Lincoln) to bring them back home and find out what they think of life in America in 1988. Along the way, they also pick up two princesses who they like. When they get back to the present, the historical figuresget into a bunch of trouble at the mall, and Bill and Ted have to rescue them. They don't have much time before they have to start their presentation at school.
They get there in the nick of time, and put on a big show with all the people from the past telling what they like about the present and what bits of information they will take back with them. The two princesses join Wyld Stallyns (which still sucks), and Bill and Ted pass history.
What bothered me most about this movie (aside from all the talking) was the fact that Beethoven was supposed to be deaf. They make a big deal about history, and they don't even get it right.