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Hot
Tub Time Machine Ah,
to do it all over it again. To relive the glory days of
endless parties, limitless opportunities and time well spent
with our closest friends. As the days go by, we let those
good times slip away and the cold hard walls of the real
world slowly creep in to crush our hopes and dreams. Gone
are artistic passions that kept the fire burning in our
hearts, as well as the friendships that kept the happiness
in our souls. And love? Love don’t live here anymore,
brother…
If only there was a way to go back and do
it all over again. If only we could get one more chance
to live it up and rekindle the flame of our youths and ultimately,
our lives. If only we had some sort of device – a
wormhole, a magic phone booth or a Dolorean with a flux
capacitator. If only we had a… Hot Tub Time Machine.
Hot
Tub Time Machine tells the tale of lifelong buddies
Adam, Nick and Lou (John Cusack, Craig Robinson and Rob
Corddry). It seems the good times have come and gone in
their lives as love as left Adam, Success has lost Nick
and everyone hates Lou. When an accident reunites the old
friends they agree to take a ski trip to their old stomping
grounds on Kodiak Mountain to escape the mundane and maybe
relive the past. Adam drags along his tech dependent nephew
Jacob (Sex Drive’s Clark Duke) and the four
head up north.
Once
arrived, they discover that the old resort ain't what it
used to be. The sleepy mountain town is almost all foreclosed
and their favorite vacation destination is run down and
dilapidated. They’re greeted by grumpy doorman Phil
(the always creepy yet always cool Crispin Glover) and taken
to their favorite suite, the aptly named room 420. It’s
run down and dirty, still wearing the marks the group made
in its youth but nothing like they expected. At least the
room has a hot tub.
Depressed
that the party-filled weekend they all looked forward to
is most likely going to be a bust, the four decide to make
the best of it and take the party to the hot tub. Soon,
the booze is flowing, the shots are pouring themselves and
the world starts spinning.
The next morning, not only do the guys have
a wicked hangover to deal with but it also just seems like
something isn’t right. The clothes they packed are
different, more retro. Their luggage is changed and their
cell phones have no connection. And after Lou gets a look
at himself in the mirror, they slowly start to realize that
it’s no longer 2010 and that they’ve somehow
transported themselves back to the eighties - more specifically,
Winterfest ’86, the greatest weekend of their lives.
While
trying to put all the pieces of their journey back in time
together they get a visit from a hot tub repairman (The
“on his way to a Comeback” kid Chevy Chase)
who casually hints about how dangerous messing with the
time stream can be. So then it’s determined that in
order to not jeopardize the future, the guys must relive
the past exactly how they did in order to not create a butterfly
effect (which was a great
movie with Ashton Kutcher by the way). This is especially
important to Jacob who didn’t even exist in this time
and who’s very being could be in peril if any important
details of history are changed.
It
soon becomes apparent to the guys that to only repeat the
past guarantees the same, disappointing future. And caught
in the moment, with wisdom from the future, the guys start
deviating from their already established paths.
Hot
Tub Time Machine, directed by Steve Pink (Accepted)
and written by Josh Heald, Sean Anders, and John Morris,
is this year’s The Hangover
and it really hits this one out of the park. (It is baseball
season already right? Can I use that analogy yet?)
Wrapped
in nostalgia, Hot Tub Time Machine is an eighties
teen movie tribute. Especially considering it’s got
John Cusack, the king of the eighties teen movie, and he’s
either passing the torch or returning to show how it’s
done. He’s entertaining and basically the straight
man. Craig Robinson (The Office, Knocked Up, Pineapple
Express) takes a well deserved star turn here and
carries most of the movie as the likeable family man with
a conscience. And like The Hangover boosted Zach
Galifianakis to fame, Hot Tub Time Machine should
make Rob Corddry (The Daily Show, Semi-Pro)
a star! Corddry is out of control in this movie and perfect
as the hard luck Lou.
Hot
Tub Time Machine is a good story about friendship and
making choices and decisions that can affect our whole lives.
However, its biggest strength is that it’s self aware.
From the second Craig Robinson realizes how they got back
in time and deadpans to the camera you’re automatically
given the signal that this movie isn’t looking to
impress you with great discussion about the space time continuum
or be the next Big Chill. This movie will make you laugh.
Or in my case, giggle hysterically.
I actually
liked this movie more than The Hangover and I think
it’s got about ten times more laughs. The comedy is
silly, juvenile, drug related and covered with eighties
pop culture references. Whether you’re a child of
the eighties like I was or just a fan of its resurgence
these days, this movie will have you chuckling, snorting
and guffawing like crazy.
It’s
a raw R rated comedy with plenty of nudity and drug use,
gross out completely wrong humor and running gag with Crispin
Glover that’s cleverly positioned throughout the movie.
The film is a blast about the past and will have you yanking
out your leg warmers, dusting off your cassette tapes and
hating the ski patrol all over again all the while wishing
you had your own Hot Tub Time Machine.
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