I've been a supporter of this film since the first day it was announced. How could I not be? Hollywood is so heavy into reboots, remakes, prequels, sequels, and spin-offs, it's difficult to sift through all the noise and realize that there are occasionally original films still being produced. If anything, give Hot Tub Time Machine credit for originality. The title says it all: four guys go back in time to 1986 through a mystical hot tub time machine. But does the movie live up to its premise?… read more [Filmonic]
A title like Hot Tub Time Machine creates certain expectations, and so its story spares little time getting us to the eponymous plot device, laying down the barest of setups before its four protagonists are jettisoned back in time: Lou (Rob Corddry) is a caustic drunk who must feign suicide to get friends to return his calls; Nick (Craig Robinson) is hopelessly whipped by his domineering wife; Adam (John Cusack) is a type-A insurance salesman reeling from a nasty breakup; his acerbic nephew, Jacob (Clark Duke), lives in the basement, his every waking moment devoted to his Second Life virtual world. And he's arguably the coolest member of the group. ..read more [Hollywood.com]
Hot Tub: Sweet. Time Machine: Awesome. Hot Tube Time Machine: Epic. Hot Tub Time Machine is a hilarious comedy about four guys who wind up back in time while trying to escape their boring lives for a weekend of fun. It follows three old friends (John Cusack, Craig Robinson, and Rob Corddry) joined by a young nephew (Clark Duke) to a ski resort to get away from their everyday problems and try to relive their teenage years from the 80s. However, they didn't think that they'd actually be given a second chance to really relive their teenage years. Approaching the mountain town, they're greeted by a rundown ski resort that has seen better days. Nevertheless, they try to make the best of it and stay in the same old room they stayed in decades before. And then they find it: A Hot Tub Time Machine. After a wild drunken night with a random bear, magical squirrel, and crazy energy drinks, they are sucked into the hot tub and sent back in time. From the title and premise, you can tell that this is a ridiculous movie…it's one of those movies where you just sit down, forget about the plot, and go for the ride wherever it takes you…read more [Advancescreening]
“Hot Tub Time Machine” is a loud, disjointed and not terribly funny comedy, which probably is what one expects with a title like that. The unfortunate thing is, it didn't need to be.
The film stars John Cusack and was written and directed by Steve Pink, who as co-writer and co-producer of “High Fidelity” and “Grosse Pointe Blank” was intimately involved in two of Cusack's better movies. But instead of going for the sophisticated wit of those two films, Cusack (acting as producer here as well) and Pink aim young and down-market…read more [THR]
Hot Tub Time Machine never aims to reinvent the wheel, they just aim to make you laugh. Personally after the first 15 minutes, I was about ready to clock out. The jokes seemed a bit forced and were trying a bit hard. Once the magic happens and the boys end up back in 1986, we start getting some laughs. The film is full of energy and highly quotable. I was laughing out loud in the theater, which is something my sourpuss face is not always apt to do. The comedic gold comes predominantly from Rob Corddry and Craig Robinson, both of whom are firing on all cylinders. A lot of my favorite jokes were at the expense of Jacob (Clark Duke) who was obsessively pounded on and insulted by Lou, though even his own Uncle layered on the insults…read more [FilmSchoolRejects]
To rewatch those Reagan-era features now, with their bikinis and their cris de coeur against conformity, is to be overcome with a mixture of affection and embarrassment—the same wincing nostalgia, in fact, that we feel when we look back on our Reagan-era selves. That's the potent emotional fuel powering Hot Tub Time Machine, a fundamentally lazy comedy that will probably make you laugh like an idiot.
Hot Tub Time Machine was ostensibly directed by Steve Pink, but it was really born from the collective unconscious of the 34-45 demographic—the viewers for whom the movie will deliver the most reliable pleasure, as they tease out the embedded references to Sixteen Candles, Revenge of the Nerds, Better Off Dead. (Basically, every movie you watched 10 or more times on VHS.) Though the sweetness and cheer of its inspirations is, by the strictures of contemporary R-rated comedy, supplemented with violence, barfing, and hate-fucking, it's still a funny, worthwhile tribute to an era of filmmaking that will not live long in the annals of cinema…read more [The VillageVoice]
“Hot Tub Time Machine” is just an excuse to have an '80s retrospective, make jokes about impractical hair and outlandish clothes, and listen to some infectiously fun music (other than the '50s, name a decade with music as reflexively enjoyable — you'll be singing along through half the movie).
In on the joke, “Hot Tube Time Machine” doesn't simply go back in time, but sets itself in one of those cheap '80s ski comedies they used to churn out several times a year — unfortunately, this new film is about that well directed, too — establishing a meta-narrative that takes the high highs and low lows of the decade and packs them all into a single weekend…read more [Gazette]
Hot Tub Time Machine flirts with being a Wet Hot American Summer-style homage/parody of the '80s ski sex comedy, but instead chooses the raunchy, lucrative buddy comedy route previously traveled by Old School and The Hangover, right down to the emasculated pal (Robinson) who must stand up to the strong, cheating woman in his life to regain his dignity. Sloppy and gleefully vulgar, Machine succeeds largely on the chemistry of its leads: '80s icon of über-sensitivity Cusack's puppy-dog earnestness contrasts nicely with Robinson's dispirited deadpan understatement and Corddry's relentless, needling comic aggression. Machine is 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…read more [A.V.Club]
I can't be sure, but I think the density of the f-word reaches the saturation point in “Hot Tub Time Machine.” I may have heard it employed as three different parts of speech in the same sentence. One wonders if American-spoken English could survive without it. What did we say in the old days? It must have been a quiet land.
The bottom line is, gross-out guy comedies open twice a month, and many of them are wretched excesses. “Hot Tub Time Machine,” which wants nothing more than to be a screwball farce, succeeds beyond any expectations suggested by the title and extends John Cusack's remarkable run: Since 1983, in 55 films, he's hardly ever made a bad one. Well, I never saw “Grandview, USA.” …read more [Roger Ebert]
Cast: John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson
Director: Steve Pink
Rated: R (for strong crude and sexual content, nudity, drug use and pervasive language)
Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes
Opens: Friday, March 26, 2010.
Great movie! However, since the ‘80s wouldn’t have been the ‘80s without Rick James, I would have liked to hear this in the movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZh8fPKsOQc