Hot Tub Time Machine: Film Review
A few weeks ago I suffered a really bad experience in a hot tub. With regards the gory details, we’ll leave it there. So it was with understandable trepidation that I took a seat in my local multiplex to watch Hot Tub Time Machine.
Walking out of the cinema 126 minutes later, my hot tub-phobia was cured. Grinning like the Cheshire Cat at a dairy farm, Hot Tub Time Machine washed away any fears previously harboured.
Hot Tub Time Machine: Making Waves
The plot to Hot Tub Time Machine is simple. A group of 40-something buddies head for the ski resort which played host to the greatest nights of their youth. As fate would have it, the quartet is transported back to 1986 by means of a mystical hot tub.
Like Dr Samuel Beckett, each member of the troupe has the chance to put right what once went wrong and hope that each time, their next leap, will be the leap home.
Director Steve Pink, along with screenwriters Josh Head and Sean Anders, make no attempt to explain the science behind the time travel. And why should they?
The time travel element is little more than a device to offload our hapless heroes in an 80s setting. Hilarity, of course, ensues. While the film starts slow, it’s a laugh a minute thereafter.
And the fact that the group negates the space time continuum via a hot tub only further underscores the movie’s farcical credentials.
Hot Tub Time Machine: High-Concept, High-Laughter
Hot Tub Time Machine taps into the vibe of an array of high-concept comedies from the era in which it is set. Weird Science and Ferris Buller’s Day Off spring to mind.
Casting John Cusack in the lead role then marks a stroke of genius. Cusack, after all, defines this era of comedy. His presence in Hot Tub Time Machine really helps ratchet up the nostalgia factor.
The film also features turns from 1980s stars such as Chevy Chase and Crispin Glover.
Glover’s presence marks a clear nod to 80’s time travelling masterpiece Back to the Future. While Hot Tub Time Machine lacks the tight plotting and invention of Robert Zemeckis’ Magnus opus, it blends the comedic elements of this classic with the gross-out slapstick of 2009’s The Hangover.
Hot Tub Time Machine: Blending the old with the new
Hot Tub Time Machine does what it says on the tin – it’s a movie about a hot tub time machine. It’s a testament to the filmmakers then that they deliver so exactly upon a film with such an outwardly confident title.
But deliver they do.
Rating: 
Stevie
11:44 pm, August 11, 2010
So what happened in the hot tub Matt?
Matt
11:52 pm, August 11, 2010
Stevie, as the saying goes: what happens in the hot tub stays in the hot tub. Enough said!!!
Stevie
12:11 am, August 12, 2010
Argggg, please Matt, just a few details lol, I need to know, the suspense is killing me. Do you want a death on your hands?
Matt Pattinson
12:16 am, August 12, 2010
My lips are sealed on this one Stevie. Seriously they are, I just mistook a glue stick for lypsyl!
Aidan
9:36 am, August 12, 2010
I know what happened in the hot tub – i was there! But enough about that, lets talk about the film. Indeed this film started slow but as soon as the Hot Tub took them back to the 80’s it didnt look back. It was funny and a good film.
Matt
9:41 am, August 12, 2010
You was there Aid? Was that you wearing the wig? It’s all a blur. And what was with the pidgeons? Anyhows, totally agree that when the boys hit the 80s its all go from there.
cheers!!
Stevie
9:55 am, August 12, 2010
So there was a party in the hot tub and I wasn’t invited ey? Pigeons? What the hell was going on? The film was a barrel of laughs too actually, though I enjoyed Hangover more.
All good….
But what happened in the tub?
Ross Wheatley
5:27 pm, August 16, 2010
Hell knows what happened in that tub – and i don’t think i really wanna know..
Really enjoyed the film, had some very funny bits throughout and worth a watch to anyone. What the tin says is what the film throws out. Nice review, but keep the details of the tub to yourself. Cheers.