The 80′s. On the one hand they gave us The Smiths, Pac-Man and Knight Rider, on the other hand they gave us, as noted by one character in Hot Tub Time Machine, “Ronald Reagan and AIDS”. The decade of spandex and shoulder pads also gave us the kind of films you could happily sell in a sentence. ‘Boy makes friend with cute big-eyed alien’, ‘Eccentric Australian crocodile wrangler visits New York’ and ‘boy travels back to the 50′s and meets his parents’.
Flashforward to 2010 and a film can be summed up in just four words. Hot. Tub. Time. Machine. The kind of film premise that a sixth form film student with a penchant for the benefits of THC would be laughed out of class for pitching, but in the hands of a major film studio with a cast full of quality comedy actors could well be the sleeper hit of the summer. This years Wedding Crashers or The Hangover.
John Cusack stars as Adam, recently dumped and looking back on where his life went wrong. When his friend Lou (The Daily Shows‘ Rob Corddry) drunkenly hopsitalises himself the doctors mistake it for a suicide attempt. To keep Lou from any relapse Adam, along with Nick (Craig Robinson) and his nephew Jacob (Clark Duke), head to Kodiak Valley, the ski lodge where the friends enjoyed their happiest days. Stepping into the titular tub the four are sent back to the days of Poison and perms.
With jokes far more hit than miss, Hot Tub (or HTTM if we really want to abbreviate a film down to nothing) is equal parts juvenile and vulgar. Faces dripping with spunk, limbs ripped from bodies, puke on squirrels and easy drunk girls are all chosen as the catalysts to get you guffawing in the aisles. As long as your comedy preferences rely on the kind of humour that gets you squirming, Hot Tub delivers.
At the very least you’ll leave the cinema wondering, What the hell did happen in Cincinatti?
i can’t wait to see this. Who’s coming with me? x
Comment by Sooz — May 5, 2010 @ 1:49 pm