Directed by Steve Pink.
Starring John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Crispin Glover and Chevy Chase.
SYNOPSIS:
Three middle-aged friends, Adam, Lou and Nick, unhappy with the directions their lives have taken, head to a ski resort for a weekend away with Adam's nephew Jacob reluctantly in tow. While there they inadvertently create a 'Hot Tub Time Machine' which sends them back to the 80s, giving them a chance to rediscover themselves and right some of the mistakes they've made.
With pretty much the ‘Ronseal’ of movie titles, Hot Tub Time Machine had me rather wary, particularly as I saw it almost by accident at a surprise screening. Word round our proverbial campfire was that we would be watching either the new Cruise / Diaz flick Knight and Day or the A-Team retooling (the latter had my vote). So when we eventually settled into the Soho screening room at the Fox offices you can imagine our surprise / bemusement / irritation when the opening credits flashed up.
About fifteen or twenty minutes in however, I started to notice something. I was enjoying this movie. I don’t just mean it was passing the time, or that I wasn’t bored, I was actually really liking it. Despite initial scepticism.
In terms of the humour, the easiest film to compare it to would be The Hangover, with a group of friends dealing with a ridiculous situation, the majority of the humour being derived from the character’s interactions with each other. The ridiculous situation in this case would be that while drunkenly partying at the ski resort, the four friends spill a bizarre Russian energy drink into the electronics on their Hot Tub, inexplicably creating the Time Travel machine of the title and sending themselves back to 1986.
Simply having Crispin Glover present references Back To The Future, but another nod to that film occurs in the way that Jacob starts to fade and disappear as they do things that could alter the future, potentially stopping Jacob from being born, just like Michael J. Fox. The film also plays with other time-travel genre themes, such as the 'butterfly effect' and using future knowledge to your advantage before events have happened. One genre cliché they mention but dismiss is the 'meeting your younger self', this being quickly snubbed with the characters revelation that they are actually inhabiting the bodies of their younger selves despite looking the same to each other.
John Cusack’s name above a movie title is frequently either a sign of quality or a sign that his presence is the only bearable element. Thankfully here though, he has chosen his role well. Joining a cast of relatively up & coming comedy actors, Cusack proceeds to lampoon the 80s movie roles that he owes the origins of his career to, almost a self-referential jibe to his young self. Playing the burned out nice-guy, the Lloyd Dobler fifteen years down the line, his former youthful idealism has left him a partied out husk, shell-shocked from his recent split with his girlfriend / wife.
His role as the heart that the movie is anchored around provide some good laughs but ultimately its Rob Corddry’s Lou that steals the show, bumbling through the film and spouting some of the best lines. A particularly funny scene whereby Lou and Nick start thinking of things they could invent to make money in the future is followed up in the films closer, whereby we discover Lou has built a financial empire after inventing the search engine ‘Lougle’.
Any questions of implausibility are thrown out the window from the premise, as the entire movie hinges on something as ludicrous as a time travelling hot tub, so when you have Nick's 80s band inexplicably knowing how to play a Black Eyed Peas song or Lou and the gang's rather implausible financial success its not even questioned in the context of the film.
Despite low expectations, Hot Tub Time Machine actually proves to be a stand-out comedy with some sharp, witty writing and well-constructed character relationships. Could well be a surprise hit upon release this week.
Roger Holland
Movie Review Archive
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