A film instructor at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena had a totally excellent idea this semester. Instead of offering his usual course in the films of avant-garde European directors Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Jean-Luc Godard, he's spending 12 weeks on the films of a most triumphant actor, an Olivier for the '90s.

Keanu Reeves.

Ted? No way.

Way.

Stephen Prina is offering a comprehensive study of Reeves' work, including the goofy teen comedy "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" and its equally goofy sequel "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey."

Students view a film a week-like "Point Break," in which Reeves plays a surfing FBI agent-then spend an hour discussing what they have seen. Yep, a full 60 minutes.

Students also are required to read a variety of essays with themes that Prina said tie into the various movies. For example, the week the class viewed the original "Bill and Ted," they read "Nietzche, Genealogy, History," by Michel Foucault.

Prina said he wanted to design a course about filmmaking in the 1980s and focused the class on Reeves because the actor has appeared in a diverse set of films that each exemplify a specific style. "And, of course, I think he is quite good."

Prina is serious about that. He contends that Reeves single-handedly has carried certain films, such as "I Love You to Death," which co-starred William Hurt and Kevin Kline.

To critics who write off Reeves as a one-trick pony, an actor who simply plays himself no matter the character, Prina said, "So what?" The same can be said of Jack Nicholson, he says, and he's an Oscar winner.

"I saw `Much Ado About Nothing' over the weekend, and the first time Keanu came on screen everyone laughed in the audience and I almost stood up and gave a lecture."

Some students and others, however, think Prina's selection of Reeves as a metaphor for modern films is most heinous. A most bogus choice.

But Prina is undaunted.

"I did not design this class to be provocative." He did hope to stir discussion.

And there's a possibility Reeves himself may make an appearance in the remaining class on April 7.

Wouldn't that be bodacious?