If time travel flicks hook you then Hot Tub Time Machine is just the thing. Without going overboard with the topic, director Steve Pink managed to capture the essence of time travel in its best sense.
The film is about four losers Adam (John Cusack), Lou (Rob Corddry), Nick (Craig Robinson) and Jacob (Clark Duke) in 2010. Adam is troubled and upset about his yet another break up, Lou is an alcoholic, Nick is stuck with a job he hates and his dominating girlfriend, and Jacob lives in Adam’s basement and is obsessed with video games.
Life is an all time low for the four guys; they have not been in touch with each other for a very long time. Suddenly, Adam and Nick get a call from the hospital stating that Lou tried to commit suicide. The two friends run to Lou’s aide. Seeing this they decide to take a break from their sad lives and go on a trip. They head to Kodiak Valley Ski Resort, a place they visited when they were young, free, cool and fun. Unfortunately, Jacob gets dragged along in this expedition.
Once in their all time favourite motel, they realise that it’s no longer what it used to be. The motel, which used to be bubbling over with people and music, was quiet and almost everything was broken. Once in their old room, the guys discover the hot bathtub. With alcohol all over they finally get into the groove; they drink and finally pass out in the very same tub.
The next day, they wake up to go skiing, with renewed energy and a lot more excitement they realise that something is amiss. When they head back to the motel, everything is changed. People are dressed in the 80’s style, hairstyles of the 80’s, music of the 80’s, and language of the 80’s. To add to it, they also looked like they used to in the 80’s.
With a shocking revelation they realise that they just traveled through time to the past. Jacob begins to panic and orders everyone to do exactly what they did then so that the future is not altered. But Adam, Lou and Nick who have a horrible present decide that changing their past may just alter their present to a better one. What finally happens and if or not they manage to get back to 2010 is something you’ll have to catch at the theatres.
Some of the amazing goods: The comic timing and brilliant dialogues are a laugh riot. The situations they fall in and the petty things they decide to change is rib tickling. The errors of the past that they try to repeat will not go amiss. The director catches the mood of the 80’s. The title itself gives you the idea of what the movie is all about. It does not deviate from the topic at all. You may enter the theatre not expecting too much and visualisng the obvious but it’s the obvious that’s actually funny. Noticing the small things like cassettes in the 80’s is good. Although, Back to the Future and its various parts has already covered all this. It still makes you laugh.
The film takes a gag at Google, The Butterfly Effect, and many more. The characters do a wonderful job. The show is stolen by Corddry a self-destructive, insufferable and gross Lou, a headbanger who’s left with no hair. Robinson with his hair all spiked up portrays a funny image. Duke’s constant worry of not existing in the future or computers not being invented if the past is altered makes a hilarious watch. Cusack delivers the emotional part of it which kind deflates the good. Lastly it’s the climax that takes the cake.
To mention a few of the ugly: the constant puking, over hype of sex (not shown in the edited version), John Cusack’s emotional drag, some of the song selection could have been better.
All in all if you enjoy time travel flicks, the film is worth a watch.
Verdict: Watch it
Rating: Time Pass
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