Hot Tub Time Machine

BOOZE, BOOBS, BLOWJOBS & BUBBLES

By Tyler Kempf

Before you head into the movie theatre to watch Hot Tub Time Machine, I have one recommendation: be prepared to suspend disbelief. If you’re not willing to do so, you won’t enjoy a bit of this film. That being said, what would you do if you could travel back in time twenty-five years? Would you change the way your life ended up or would you do your best to play everything out exactly the same way so as not to disrupt the outcome of your future life? This is the main question posed to the four main characters of Hot Tub Time Machine. Well, actually, there are two main questions. The second one being how many chicks can you bang with your recently re-invigorated sexual stamina?

Hot Tub Time Machine, starring John Cusack, Rod Corddry (The Daily Show), Craig Robinson (The Office) and Clark Duke (Greek), is an even blend of a raunchy sex flick and a buddy comedy. The film opens up on three middle-aged friends who are all unhappy with their lives. Nick (Robinson) has given up his music dreams to primp upper-class dogs, Adam’s (Cusack) girlfriend has just moved out of their house leaving him with his socially inept nephew, Jacob (Duke), and Lou is an alcoholic. “You know how every group of friends has an asshole?” Robinson exclaims. “He’s our asshole.”

The three friends decide to go to their favorite ski town to forget about their troubles, dragging young Jacob along. When they arrive, however, they come to find that the town is no longer the hustling and bustling sex party they remember from twenty-five years ago. Remember when I mentioned earlier that you needed to suspend disbelief? Yeah, this is where that comes into play. Through a few silly events, the guys find themselves transported back to 1986. Though they look the same to each other, everybody else sees them as the young 20 year-olds they once were. And from this point on, hilarity ensues.
The main characters are all very likable, which is not very common in recent R rated films. Craig Robinson is a standout among the cast. He’s really given a chance to shine in a lead role for the first time. Also, keep an eye out for Crispin Glover as the one-armed bellboy, who is hysterical here. Save for a few off color jokes that don’t seem to fit in with the rest of the humor, Hot Tub Time Machine is a funny movie. There are some great one-liners and the film pays homage to more than a couple of our favorite 80’s films, including some old Cusack movies.