“Hot Tub Time Machine”
3 and a half stars out of 5
A movie called “Hot Tub Time Machine?” Already sounds like a winner! In actuality, it sounds like a cheaply made B-rated comedy in the classic 80’s style artistic direction. And it is.
However, it only took me about three minutes – probably three minutes longer than it would take a normal person – to realize that was the look Director Steve Pink was aiming for.
Even the title of the film is reflective of the awfulness of 80s movies. It was completely uninspiring, yet it still managed to capture and hold the attention of men everywhere. Hot tubs are, for the lack of a more eloquent word, hot, and time machines appeal to the sci-fi loving side of the male brain. Put them together and it’s a slam-dunk.
Personally, I was not born in the 80s, and I don’t appreciate much of the music from the decade of big hair and metal music. I sure don’t have an appreciation for the fashion of the time. But as far as the film goes, the tackiness and blasts from the past actually enhanced the experience, with the exception of the poor special effects (another ’80s cinema staple).
The plot was like a mixture of “The Hangover” and “The Butterfly Effect,” where one drunken night sends four key characters back in time to 1986. Once there, a maintenance repairman played by an aging Chevy Chase warns them that they must not change the events of their pasts or the consequences could be dire. A completely unoriginal idea, but not horribly executed.
While it’s not a blockbuster, the movie did have its funny/awkward moments and memorable characters.
The most interesting (as well as the most vulgar) character was Lou, one of the four guys who travelled back in time via the supernatural hot tub. Nick, another of the leads, sums up Lou perfectly: “He’s an asshole… but he’s our asshole.”
Between emitting expletives, drinking, and doing various drugs, Lou managed to get beaten up three times, impregnate his friend’s sister and reinvent Google as Lougle. And that takes skill, amigos.
Appearing periodically was a bellhop, who was shown at the beginning of the film to have one arm with no idea how he lost it. While venturing through the past, Lou in particular keeps waiting to see how the arm gets lost. Through the several near-arm-losing experiences, the audience is kept on its toes in suspense as each situation puts the bellhop in a more creative circumstance for losing his limb.
What really saved the comedic part of the film was the classic comedic trick of repetition. For instance, one random squirrel gets puked on, crushed by a skier and nearly trampled during a NFL game.
My personal favorite jab was a not-so-oblique reference to preventing Miley Cyrus from being born.
For the audience members who wanted to see something more than unattractive, middle-aged men making moves on pretty women in their twenties, there was a small love plot and a couple of life lessons. What will be will be, best friends don’t let each other down, blah blah blah. Get back to the mindless comedy.
In the end, the future is changed for each character without any problem and they all live happily ever after. Nothing cinematically new, but it leaves the audience with happy feelings.
Even with the lack of creative genius, the film exceeded my expectations with its obvious wit and politically insensitive scenes. Although not normally a fan of movies where every other word is an expletive and every other situation is a vulgar one, “Hot Tub Time Machine” manages to turn the unclassy into sassy.
