Movie Review: "Hot Tub Time Machine"

Seen on: March 26, 2010

The players: Director: Steve Pink, Writers: Sean Anders, Josh Heald, John Morris, Cast: John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke

Facts of interest: Steve Pink also directed "Accepted."

The plot: Four friends travel to a ski resort to have fun. When they jump into a hot tub, they realize they're transporeted back to 1986. Chaos ensues.

Our thoughts: Steve Pink’s “Hot Tub Time Machine” doesn’t exactly take viewers on a memorable ride, but to tell you the truth, I found it hard not to enjoy the comedy’s fast pace and brainless but generally light humor. No, “Time Machine” is not this year’s “The Hangover,” but in terms of entertainment, the film isn’t as disappointing as it could’ve been.

The story doesn’t need a long introduction. The film follows four buddies who are fed up with life and decide to head to a ski resort to party big and remember the good old days. When they jump into a glowing hot tub, they are suddenly transported back to 1986, where they get a shot at setting things right… or not.

It’s not the most original story, but then again, “Hot Tub Time Machine” doesn’t really care much about innovation. It’s a film that solely relies on its solid dose of jokes, and while some of them clearly deliver the goods, others turn out to be a tad too lame for my taste. Don’t go looking for something in this film that isn’t there.

The script was written primarily by Sean Anders and John Morris, the guys who wrote the surprisingly funny “She’s Out of My League” and decently entertaining “Sex Drive.” None of these flicks qualify as masterpieces, but they all boast an attractive humor that avoids boredom and overly disgusting moments.

The cast here is one of the reasons some jokes work very well, and the ones to pay extra attention to are Rob Corddry and Craig Robinson. These guys definitely nail it most of the time. Clark Duke delivers an acceptable performance, but John Cusack is the only one who seems a bit out of place at times. He lacks energy, and it shows.

“Hot Tub Time Machine” follows the four buddies as they revisit their memories from 1986 and finally stumble across an opportunity to change the past in order to avoid the miserable life they know is waiting for them in 2010. Anyway, it goes without saying that you shouldn’t expect any deep reflections in this thing.

As a raunchy comedy, it actually works better than most of these stupid teen comedies that move from one embarrassingly disgusting moment to the next. Yes, this one includes some puke and pee jokes as well, but much to my surprise, they don’t exactly ruin everything around them.

That said, despite an amusing plot, “Time Machine” lacks the element of instant comic surprise, and I admit I didn’t laugh as much as I wanted to. It made me smile every now and then, but the quality of the crude humor is nowhere near as compelling and hilarious as the stuff we’ve seen in, say, “The Hangover.”

Freaky quote: "Oh my God, I seriously almost passed out you're such a dork." - Rob Corddry

The final word: “Hot Tub Time Machine” will divide cinemagoers. Some will consider this a hilarious adventure, and others will look at this and ask themselves how people can enjoy this kind of film. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either. It’s a perfectly watchable experience, but to be honest, I’ll forget about it in a couple of days.

Article by Franck Tabouring