“Hot Tub Time Machine” (2010)

Hot Tube Time Machine

Grade: B-

For fans of raunchy male-dominated comedies, Hot Tub Time Machine is as fun as its title. For fans of filmmaking (and females), the movie is as flawed as the title concept. I land somewhere in the middle but am content to admire it as a Colin’s Review Guilty Pleasure. A few more notes on Hot Tub Time Machine:

Directing:

Director Steve Pink is serviceable in bringing the 1980s back to life (i.e., cocaine, spandex and heavy metal are featured heavily), though most of the heavy lifting is done by the actors and soundtrack. Nevertheless, Pink does a good job making us aware of the setting’s geography (i.e., the hotel room is over here, the hot tub is over there), which is all we can ask for in a goofy movie such as this.

Acting:

The unlikely combination of John Cusack, Rob Corrdry, Craig Robinson and Clark Duke have remarkable chemistry and are able to easily riff on each other’s irreverent jokes. It’s a likable cast despite the film’s thin storyline.

Writing:

Yes, the main premise is a magical hot tub that sends four friends back to their teenage years at a ski lodge in 1986. And, yes, the film is well aware of its own stupidity. Plus, the jokes are often misogynistic and homophobic. But the characters are just pathetic enough to make the offensive combination kinda work. Hot Tub Time Machine doesn’t want your sympathy, just your laughs. And it’s laughs we give.

Music:

The movie is dumb enough to pack the soundtrack with Poison, Mötley Crüe and Foreigner, but also smart enough to include New Order, The Replacements and Talking Heads. The musical choices are a well-rounded representation of mainstream and alternative ‘80s culture, which is surprisingly more clever than expected.

Ending (SPOILERS):

Hot Tub Time Machine follows your basic Back to the Future logic, and the main characters all return to the present having altered the past to their own advantage. It’s a happy ending for people who don’t really deserve one, with all logic thrown out the window. Their moral growth would be somewhat heartwarming if it wasn’t all so stupid. The ending is where raunchy male-dominated comedies always seem to fail, never realizing that once the jokes stop, so does the movie.

“It must be some kind of hot tub time machine.” – Nick Webber-Agnew

Why Hot Tub Time Machine gets a B-:

The jokes are offensive but harmless; dated but still funny. As a Guilty Pleasure film I enjoy despite its flaws, I’ll say that Hot Tub Time Machine has no business being as good as it is…but it’s also just as bad as you’d expect.

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