01/08/2013

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

Film: Hot Tub Time Machine
Release: 2010, Theatrical
Starring: John Cusack, Clark Duke, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry
Directed by: Steve Pink
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: three friends have not gone where they wanted to go in their lives and have lost touch with each other. When one of them gets seriously ill from car exhaust poisoning, they decide to go to their old party place to rekindle their friendship - one of them towing along his socially awkward nephew. After a night of drinking, they suddenly find themselves in 1986.

Hans' thoughts:

This movie consists of two things I have very opposite feelings about. First off, this is a time travel adventure. Time travel is just my favorite subject matter in fiction. There's just so many places you can go with that. On the other hand, this is a low brow party comedy movie. Which is very much not my style. What I suspected to see was a movie that just happened to have a time travel setup, but then focused the most on comedic exploitation. Movies like American Pie or Sex Drive. However, this movie fooled me. 

As you can probably tell, this movie has a basis very similar to Fanboys. One of the guys in a group of friends have a near-death experience and go on a trip to rekindle what was lost. This also has a lot of funny little nods to those who are aware of the flavor of the movie. Where Fanboys had a lot of in-jokes for Star Wars fans, this one is cramped with the best and worst of mid-eighties culture. The movie even has a lot of similarities in it's plot to other big time travel movies. However, it manages to balance it out. These characters aren't geeks, and a lot of the references are meant to simply be picked up on by the viewer rather than have a ton of meta jokes.

The acting is pretty okay, though nothing really stood out to me as good or bad. However, as a general complaint I would have liked some better timing in the physical comedy department. This movie actually kinda has, heart to it. Normally when I sit down and see one of these kinds of movies I feel that it was ramped up with drinking and T and A more than needed because "that's what the kids want". But this feels like it was a young buddy movie made for people in their late 20's rather than 17 year olds who would then turn out to get an unrealistic image of what being young is actually like. 

Is it good then? Hell no, it's sort of mediocre. But I found it entertaining.

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