SummaryHot Tub Time Machine follows a group of best friends who've become bored with their adult lives: Adam has been dumped by his girlfriend; Lou is a party guy who can't find the party; Nick's wife controls his every move; and video game-obsessed Jacob won't leave his basement. After a crazy night of drinking in a ski resort hot tub, the men...
SummaryHot Tub Time Machine follows a group of best friends who've become bored with their adult lives: Adam has been dumped by his girlfriend; Lou is a party guy who can't find the party; Nick's wife controls his every move; and video game-obsessed Jacob won't leave his basement. After a crazy night of drinking in a ski resort hot tub, the men...
The movie itself is a nonstop barrage -- somewhere between a riot and an orgy -- of crude, obnoxious gags and riffs. If you are a connoisseur of sexual, scatological or just plain stupid humor, you will find your appetite satisfied, even glutted.
Hilarious. By the end you will be "Is that what were going with? Awesome!" At first I thought this would be serious about the issues with time traveling and then it so funny you don't care.
One of my favorite movies of the year. Had a lot of hilarious moments and the characters were awesome, especially Lou. Made me want to go to a ski resort.
With sharp riffs on the intersection of '80s pop culture (ALF, Kid 'N Play, Ronald Reagan!) and 21st-century culture (Twitter, Viagra, Second Life!), this Time Machine is a fun dip into a pool of memories that are best forgotten again once the booze wears off.
Engaging enough, but its characters’ path to redemption would be more satisfying if it weren’t greased with authentically ’80s-style casual sexism, gay panic, and frat-comedy clichés.
A lot of what's intended to be funny falls flat, in part because it's too obvious and in part because director Steve Pink is clumsy when it comes to comedic timing.
Occasionally a comedy comes along that's so great, it's guaranteed to be enjoyed for generations to come. Hot Tub Time Machine is one such comedy, and it's earned its place among great comedies, as everyone in Hot Tub Time Machine is in top form, and it shows as the laughs keep coming in this time-traveling bromance.
The plot is simple, Adam (John Cusack), Nick (Craig Robinson), and Lou (Rob Corddry) are best friends who have grown apart as adults, but after an alleged suicide attempt by Lou, their **** friend" (as Adam points out, every group has one), Adam and Nick (with Adam's nephew, Jacob (Clark Duke), in tow) decide it's time to revisit Kodiak Valley where they attended Winterfest in 1986. Their return visit initially produces a rundown town littered with closed businesses and an empty hot tub in their cabin. Once the hot tub is mysteriously fixed, filled, and operating, the guys hop in only to be taken back to the very night they hoped to relive, but there's a catch, the mysterious hot tub repair man (whom you'll recognize immediately) tells them they have to relive the night exactly as they did in 1986. This may sound as lame as the title, but the director, cast, and writers know what their doing and provide one of the most enjoyable comedies I've seen in a while.
The unrated version has enough boobs, barfing and bad behavior to go around, as Craig Robinson delivers a performance every bit as good as his roles in Pineapple Express (2008) and Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008). Robinson has great comedic timing and always brightens up a scene. John Cusack has been hit and miss with me for years, but he shines here as Adam, whose recently single and lives with his nephew, Jacob, who never leaves the basement or the internet, at least until they go to Kodiak Valley. Speaking of Jacob, the young Clark Duke proves himself a force to be reckoned with, I expected him to be the weakest link, but in Hot Tub Time Machine, there is no weakest link and Duke holds his own among the more experienced actors. Rob Corddry has been showing up in various roles since gaining popularity on The Daily Show (1996), however, he's never been used to his full potential until now. Lou is the perfect fit for Corddry as he's able to cut loose with nothing to hold him back except himself. Lou's the **** friend to a tee, but we like him enough to want him to succeed.
It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Crispin Glover, it's also no secret that Glover can deliver a performance like no other. His unmistakable appearance and willingness to go in any direction for a role, make him a constant joy while on screen. I won't give away the details of his character, except to say you won't be forgetting Phil anytime soon.
Hot Tub Time Machine is bromance comedy through and through, and beneath all the "**** and fart" jokes, there's a solid message about lifelong friendships and how important it is to maintain them in your adult life, even if one of those friends can be difficult at times. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an old **** friend" to call.
Three old friends (Adam, Nick and Lou) along with Adams nephew find themselves transported back to 1986 thanks to an incident involving a banned Russian energy drink and a hot tub. At first they determine not to do anything that will affect their futures but soon realize that maybe they have been given an opportunity to change things for the better.
Exploring many of the same concepts it is difficult not to be constantly reminded of the classic sci-fi comedy Back to the Future and in this regard there really is no comparison. While Hot Tub Time Machine may falter in terms of originality and pacing however it certainly has a good enough cast and enough genuinely funny moments to make for a fairly entertaining watch for the majority of its running time.
There were some pretty funny parts, but a lot of boring moments. The characters were well done though, so that keeps you interested. Kind of a boring ending, but good enough.
Two words come to mind when it comes to summing up this particular movie - seriously mediocre. I usually quite enjoy time travel based movies, the premise behind them and I presumed this movie would be pretty zany, not heavy on plot but quite funny in a daft way, I guess and quite saucy, which the former it isn't really but the latter; it is. As far as the time travel element of it is concerned, the movie definitely takes elements from the first Back to the Future movie (which fans of that movie should recognise given the basic storyline mentioned above) in that the characters go back in time and have to ensure the same course of events happen to ensure someone still comes into being, as it were - thinking about it, they go back in time to 1986, which is the year that Back to the Future (the original movie) was made and that the present was based in. The main difference with this movie is that there's alot less of a story behind it, there's no real deadline or even clear reason why their back in time - well ok there *is* but it doesn't come across much in the movie, its certainly not edge of your seat material in any way. This is a movie that will, in my mind, mainly appeal to adolescent men, with heavy use of strong language and sexual references, plus drug references. I knew not to expect much from this but all the same, it really didn't interest me much at all. The characters all came across as quite smug, petty and selfish, plus (in my humble opinion) there was too much dialogue and not much in the way of action or intrigue, so I felt bored and distracted. This movie definitely has the 'gross out' factor that teenage boys enjoy but I don't think it'll appeal to many people outside the teens to early 20s age range.
Probably one of the main or only reasons to watch this movie would be the presence of quite a few classic 1980s American power ballads, although it might be eaiser just to buy the soundtrack instead, or even better I'd recommend the American Anthems compilations but thats a side point I suppose...anyway I'd say there is an element of 80s nostalgia present in the movie. There's one or two fairly amusing scenes but it still doesn't really save the movie for me, as it were. To me this movie doesn't really stand out, its not a movie that your likely to look back on fondly after having seen it, if anything it might be better viewed when somewhat tipsy, then you might find it more funny - when it comes to similar movies based around a group of fun loving middle aged men, I'd think of movies such as The Hangover, which also appeals to a similar adolescent audience as well as to a slightly older audience and that movie I thought was funnier and more entertaining, personally, by way of comparison. I think if there were more in the way of visual comedy then this could have been better but there wasn't enough to it (as it were) to keep me feeling particularly interested in the characters or the eventual outcome, although I do think that perhaps younger males may enjoy it more than me for some of the dialogue but if their/your looking for a strong plot and some decent action then you'd likely still be disappointed. Overall im giving this a 2 star rating as some might find it somewhat amusing but other than that, its really not worth bothering with, in my opinion.
Funnily enough, no I wouldn't recommend it. This doesn't cover any new ground and isn't even particularly funny, as I'd hoped it might be. There's too much dialogue and not enough drama and so I found myself feeling bored and distracted at least by mid way through the movie. If you like heavy swearing and the 'gross out factor' and enjoy movies about middle aged men going back in time to rekindle relationships/mess around with women then you may enjoy this but otherwise I wouldn't recommend it, certainly as a time travel movie it wasn't much cop.
This film might have a promising idea, but most of the potential is wasted on unoriginal and stupid gags that just get worse as the movie progresses. This makes it just become more and more desperate.