My Review: Hot Tub Time Machine (5/10)

¨One little change has a ripple effect and it effects everything else. Like a butterfly floats its wings and Tokyo explodes or there`s a tsunami, in like, you know, somewhere.¨

I was expecting The Hot Tub Time Machine to be this year`s The Hangover, but I was disappointed because I didn`t find this film funny at all. It had very few laughs and the only positive thing about it was John Cusack`s performance. There are some very few funny moments, but for the most part I was serious throughout. Perhaps my expectations were set a little too high because of the good reviews this film got, but it just didn`t work for me. I should have been warned just by the title itself. The film isn`t terrible, it`s just that I didn`t see anything different from the other comedies (puke jokes, poop jokes, etc.). At one point it even references Wild Hogs and to be honest with you this film felt like it as well. I didn`t enjoy the performances from the rest of the cast either like I did with last year`s The Hangover, I Love You Man, or Role Models. I am a big fan of comedies and usually like most of them, but this movie failed in my opinion. I guess I didn`t find the story all that interesting and perhaps couldn`t relate to the nostalgic feeling of the 80`s that the film brought for some. The story was written by Josh Heald as was the screenplay with the help of Sean Anders (director and writer of Sex Drive) and John Morris. Steve Pink, who is mostly known for writing the screenplay for another John Cusack film, High Fidelity, directed this picture.

The plot is pretty simple; three friends have grown apart from each other over time but an incident reunites them. Adam (John Cusack) is an insurance worker who has just been dumped by his girlfriend. Jacob (Clark Duke from Kick-Ass) is his nephew who lives in his basement and spends all day on his computer. One day Adam receives a call from Nick (Craig Robinson), one of his friends from his youth who is now married and working as a veterinarian having abandoned his dream of being a musician. Nick tells Adam that their friend, Lou (Rob Corddry from What Happens in Vegas), has been hospitalized for trying to commit suicide. In order to try to cheer Lou, Nick and Adam decide to take him to the ski resort they used to visit in their days. Once they arrive at the ski resort, which has been abandoned over the years, the four guys decide to get into a hot tub and get wasted. When they wake up they realize that they are in 1986 and they try to do exactly the same thing they did in the past so they don`t alter their future. The plot could have been much better, but the laughs are very scarce throughout the film.

For me the weakest thing about the film is the cast (with the exception of John Cusack who is charismatic) along with the plot which is pretty silly as well. I can understand why some people may have liked it for bringing some memories of the 80`s back, but it just didn`t work for me. The jokes aren`t very funny and there is even one scene in which Nick`s character says ¨It must be some kind of hot tub time machine¨ and stares directly at the camera, which really didn`t work and I still don`t understand the purpose of that scene which felt completely misplaced. The movie isn`t terrible either, but I wouldn`t recommend it. Comedies are probably the easiest to critique for me because I can measure them by how much they make me laugh and The Hot Tub Time Machine really delivers few of those, and it isn`t one of those comedies I would love to watch over and over again. The movie just relies on the same old jokes and the whole time travelling thing didn`t work for me, but a lot of critics have a different opinion from mine so this movie is one of those that clearly divides audiences and you might want to check it out and make your own conclusions.

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