Beavis and Butt-head Do America

Ever since this cartoon duo debuted in late '92, I've had a soft spot in my heart for them. Full of post-modern panache and devil-may-care, the boys speak to a wounded America. Distinctly effervescent, and possessing a pop culture muckraking sensibility reminiscent of Upton Sinclair and Thomas Nast, Beavis and Butthead have staked out a distinct territory on the far side of the American deconstructionalist underbelly. The onus of a 90-minute comic dissertation is one they shoulder with ease. Featuring a title intro straight out of the machismo-addled '70s crime shows, and a hallucination sequence that recalls the drug-crazed creative explosions of the Odd Bodkins series, the movie teeters on the precipice of greatness.

Heh-heh. I said "onus."

—Ian Williams

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