Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)



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Rating: 2.5!
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Hot Tub Time Machine is a sci-fi comedy staring John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, and Chevy Chase. Three friends get back together to reconnect after one almost dies. Adam Yates' (Cusack) nephew tags along as he lives in Yates' basement. They travel to an old resort that they visited in the 80s to discover that the town is run down, as is the resort. After having some disagreements, the hot tub on the patio magically fills itself, they get in, and find themselves transported to 1986 and must relive their time spent at Winterfest '86 in their younger bodies.

The movie is a very good throwback to 80s comedies especially with John Cusack in the cast. Cusack's character, oddly enough, happens to be one of the slower points of the plot with most of the attention spent on the  interaction between Nick (Robinson) and Lou (Corddry). Jacob (Duke) spends all of his time attempting not to screw up the past and present himself from being born as it is 9 months before that happens.

The movie pulls off the 80s feel well with the outfits and devices, but also with the plot feeling much like an 80s film itself. The Lou attempts to change things while also trying to get laid; Nick is trying to avoid the fact that he sleeps with a groupy, believing that it is cheating on his future wife; Adam has the role much like Cusack's other characters of the one trying to stay with the girl but finding a different one that makes him think deeply about life and really start caring about the way he treats his own life. Jacob is the tether to the future as he keeps talking about texting, emails, Google, and the butterfly effect of time travelling in the past (a concept that was prevalent in fiction of the 80s but has become a common way of thinking and reacting to situations in the past decade or so).

The movie can be related to The Hangover while still being very much an 80s style film, having an abundant amount of alcohol and drugs but saving the nudity for sex scenes. This movie is rated R with crude/sexual content, nudity, and drug use. Cameos by Chevy Chase and Crispin Glover are a fun addition as well.

Hot Tub Time Machine is a regular paced movie. Enough to keep you watching without being an awesome movie. It is great for some good laughs and a refreshingly newer plot that I might watch again. I wasn't very thrilled with Cusack, but as I said before, he wasn't really the highlight of the movie. If I want to watch a good 80s movie with Cusack it would be Better Off Dead.

Overall, it's definitely a great movie for some really good laughs and a new plot but not if you are looking for a lot of Cusack.

2 comments:

  1. A good review. Very detailed.

    All the best,
    Jack

    http://jackedwardspoetry.blogspot.co.uk/

    ReplyDelete