Hot Tub Time Machine- He said

Cats, and kittens! If you know me, you know I love John Cusack. From Say Anything and High Fidelity to Identity, I love this guy…except 2012. Regardless, very much like my sister, I try to go see most of his movies. Funny thing is he is not really the reason that I wanted to see Hot Tub Time Machine. Oh no, it was the brief scene where Craig Robinson’s character says, “I guess it’s a hot tub time machine.” and then he looks directly into the camera. I couldn’t stop cracking up at this, but it is an important moment because it sets the tone of the movie. It is no Judd Apatow comedy, the dramatic arc is not that great, but it won’t take away from the good time that you’ll have.

The beginning part of this movie reminded me of Couples Retreat (wait! Don’t be despaired) where it definitely felt like they were just trying to go through the motions to get the main characters to the time machine and in the 80’s. John Cusack’s Adam is an uptight guy who gets broken up with by his girlfriend and decides to split their items with colored dots. Rob Corddry is Lou-a dude that never grew up and still listens to awful hair metal. I truly hope this movie brings him more exposure. Craig Robinson is Nick, who is completely whipped by his wife and in the saddest role I’ve ever seen him. Finally Clark Duke as Jacob, being a fan of him since watching him in Greek, I must say he is playing the same character but not in a Michael Cera sort of way. Once again the set up is lame, but the way they get there is hilarious, and the group has great chemistry together. I know that Cusack could do humor but not in this manner. The rapid fire back and forth between these characters led to me truly believing these dudes were life long pals.

When they finally get to the 80’s that’s where the fun really begins. It’s funny how they poke at all of the ridiculous trends of the time. It’s funny because they don’t take the time to really explain much of how this hot tub really works except through the unnecessary and minor role that Chevy Chase has. This is no Primer cats and kittens, the logic (?) and rules about this time travel story is touched up on very lightly. Once again this movie doesn’t take itself too seriously, but once again, it is a consistently hilarious film. One of the weirdest concepts is that they look like their younger counterparts, but somehow Jacob isn’t. What’s weird is that he doesn’t change, and that apart from being in one of the couple horrible CGI-laden sequences, the younger counterparts are not used much if at all for the rest of the movie. The CGI is the truly weak spot of the movie it was in the weird scenes where they felt necessary to hire a 10 year old to put a crappy background.


Overall I have to say this was a very good movie, and hopeful stepping stone in the limelight for every one in the cast that wasn’t John Cusack, except Chevy Chase, that man needs to stick to Community exclusively.