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Laughs, gross-outs galore in Hot Tub Time Machine

The life cycle of new theatrical releases dictates that each spring or early summer must be blessed with a comedy such as this. Mature in content but immature in nature. Hilarious yet bothersome. Awesome and awful at the same time.

The life cycle of new theatrical releases dictates that each spring or early summer must be blessed with a comedy such as this. Mature in content but immature in nature. Hilarious yet bothersome. Awesome and awful at the same time.

The Hangover was last year’s contribution. This year we have Hot Tub Time Machine.. Four loser friends have finally reached the lowest points of their lives. Adam (John Cusack) just got dumped by his girlfriend, who cleared out most of the possessions in their house just before clearing out herself. Jacob (Clark Duke) is a 20-something young man who barely knows the sight of the sun for all of the time he spends in Adam’s basement playing a real life simulation video game where his character is in prison. Nick (Craig Robinson) has a cheating wife and an animal tech job at pet service store Sup Dawg. The film’s first highlight features him retrieving a car key from the tail end of a retriever.

But the instigating incident is when a fully depressed Lou (Rob Corddry) has a near-death experience with a bottle of whiskey, a running car and a closed garage door. While recovering in hospital, his doctor informs Adam and Nick that they must show him a good time and keep a watchful eye on him for a few days. They take him to the one fateful place where they once partied like never before as youths and never again as adults; the Kodiak Valley Ski Hill. They drag Jacob along for kicks, complete with an ample supply of liquor and some Russian energy drinks. While drunk and relaxing in the hot tub, they spill some energy drink on the console, sending all of the bathing occupants back 24 years to that same critical moment in their lives when everything went wrong. They wake up in 1986 and have to either retrace their steps and missteps exactly lest the future be altered through the butterfly effect. That, or they fix the past to work in their favour. It’s like the premise for Back to the Future got genetically altered in Seth Brundle’s transportation chamber from The Fly and landed in the setting for Ski School.

While Cusack’s ability to choose appropriate film projects (2012, Con Air) seems iffy, he rarely disappoints. The Dark Prince has that rare gift to be obviously morose but still composed and conversational enough to have everyone’s sympathy. The real scene-stealer though is the somewhat manic Corddry, former correspondent on The Daily Show, now on a career upswing with a string of pivotal roles in several movies exactly like this one. By that, I refer to movies that are infectiously funny and occasionally really gross. There were a few visuals that didn’t need to be seen, the first of which was the Sup Dawg scene. Later moments test the audience’s collective intestinal fortitude.

Hot Tub Time Machine really deserves high praise for its smart but lowbrow way of making people laugh. It didn’t hurt that Crispin Glover played the one-armed bellboy, building our expectation to bear witness to the unexplained amputation. Chevy Chase shows up as the mysterious technician trying to fix the time travel portal. He does a fine job in the small role. This movie could easily have turned into an endless parade of key stars from that time period but thankfully it resisted that temptation. The last thing we needed to see is Ralph Macchio or Mia Sara in Miami Vice pastel ski suits.

Thankfully, director Pink, a long-time collaborator with Cusack, knew better than to go down that road. Cameo blasts from the past would only have served as diversions to an otherwise finely tuned story, half-written by the scribe of the overlooked Sex Drive. That movie from two years ago showed the author’s potential that is now fully realized. Hopefully the success of this one doesn’t lead to a sequel where the protagonists must transport themselves to the year 2034 using a transcendental sauna.

Hot Tub Time Machine

Directed by: Steve Pink<br />Starring: John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Crispin Glover and Chevy Chase<br />Now playing at: North Edmonton Cineplex and Scotiabank Theatres<br />Rated: 18A<br />Stars: 4.0


Scott Hayes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

About the Author: Scott Hayes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Ecology and Environment Reporter at the Fitzhugh Newspaper since July 2022 under Local Journalism Initiative funding provided by News Media Canada.
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