Hot Tub Time Machine: Review By B. Alan Orange

From beginning to end, Hot Tub Time Machine shoots forth with the force of a rocket. Proving to be the funnest time had at the movies thus far this year. It hot sh*ts non-stop whizzers continuously, never stopping to catch its breath up and throughout the end credit sequence. It comes strapped with some mighty big laughs, a bit of pathos...And dare I say heart? It adheres to the 80s go-for-broke attitude of simply wanting to entertain its audience, and serves as the perfect throwback to that decade. Which it both celebrates and sh*ts on. With a rewrite by John Cusack and Steven Pink, its quit apparent that these longtime cinematic collaborators understand the charm and stability that made a lot of the classic 80s comedies work well beyond their curbed expiration date. Hot Tub Time Machine slides in perfectly with One Crazy Summer, Better Off Dead, and The Sure Thing. In terms of time travel, it doesn't get as inventive as Back to the Future, though it does ape some of that film's creative conceit. This is more Bill and Ted and My Science Project than it is Time Bandits or The Terminator (which all get referenced in some shape or form). It's just too bad that a lot of folks aren't going to give it the time of day when it hits theaters on Friday.

Most genre films of this nature are slow to roll out of the gate, with the momentum building up through the core concept of the narrative. Hot Tub Time Machine actually gives each of its four stars a key joke and some good material to work with before whisking them away on their life-altering adventure. John Cusack gets top billing here, but Rob Corddry is really the lead as all that goofy time travel business affects him the most. The script doesn't bother us with crazy concepts or Butterfly-effect type rules, though the Ashton Kutcher film is referenced in a daisy chain of jokes built and crimped from what has come before it. The title pretty much sets everything up and tells us all we need to know. There are a few moments of character building, then before you know it, we're back in January of 1986. And it's a gut punch of hilarity that never ceases firing on all cylinders.

Director Pink gets the look just right. This isn't too cartoony, and it isn't as drab as last year's 1986 set Adventureland. We get the dayglo colors, the funky Jeri curls, the tape cassette Walkmans, and the Alf references. We also get Chevy Chase, Crispin Glover, Ronald Reagan, and a bevy of topless woman that seem to have walked right out of an old 80s sex comedy. Better Off Dead serves as a template for story points with skiing, suicide, and unrequited love all playing a major part in selling these fresh baked jokes home. Its almost as if Pink and Cusack took the original Hot Tub script, written by Josh Heald, Sean Anders, and John Morris (half the team responsible for the abysmal She's Out of My League and the excellent Sex Drive), and then inserted every key moment that worked throughout Cusack's youthful oeuvre. We even get nods to his film Sixteen Candles, Hot Pursuit, and Say Anything. This is one of those projects that goes full circle and actually succeeds in celebrating an often undersold, yet always solid actor. Cusack gives it his all in this hilarious performance as well, rasping his lines in a wheeze of graveled, psilocybin-coated musings that bring us right back to his teenage years. In fact, the actor gets the funniest line in the entire film. Though it will be obscured and hidden under a roar of laughter from the joke that comes right before it. Especially in a packed house.

Cusack is Adam, a man that has just been abandoned by his wife. He regrets breaking up with his old girlfriend twenty-four years prior, and is still holding onto what he considers the biggest mistake of his life. He has two best friends who've also found themselves slowly flung into the dumpster of life. Craig Robinson is Nick, a former musician who now works in a pet-grooming store called 'Sup Dawg, where he is tasked with digging car keys out of canine butt holes. He recently found out that his beloved wife is cheating on him. Rob Corddry is Lou, the loose cannon. A man that hates the world, his friends, and his life so much that he attempts to kill himself by asphyxiation. Nick and Adam come together to help their old friend find the light. To keep him from attempting hilarious suicide yet again, they whisk him off to Tahoe for a weekend of partying and relaxation. In tow is Adam's nephew Jacob, played by Clark Duke. The kid is a basement dweller with no friends and a penchant for playing Second Life, where his alternate universe Avatar has been stuck in jail for the past two years.

This is a Motley Crue, to say the least. And they all have their problems. The camaraderie and chemistry played out on screen is palpable, and we truly believe these guys are lifelong friends. They arrive at an old ski resort where they spent many vacations in their youth to find a rundown old hovel and a one-armed bellhop played by Crispin Glover. The resident weirdo, who once wowed audiences with his portrayal of George McFly, provides the film with its greatest running gag. And its one that brings a unique mix of suspense and laughs unlike anything ever experienced in a comedy before. Every time Glover steps on screen, you'll find yourself cringing in anticipation of what may or may not happen to him next. And he gets the second best line in the entire film, again obscured by the laughs that come before it.

It doesn't take long for our gang to succ*mb to the rigors of the past. After a boring night of playing quarters, our quartet climbs into the once-broken hot tub for a night of male bonding and debauchery. When they awaken, they find themselves trapped in the bodies of their former selves. Circa 1986. Except for Jacob, who is flickering in and out of existence (ala Marty McFly). At first, the gang sets out to retrace their exact footsteps from twenty-four years ago. When none of that works in their favor, they instead decide to challenge destiny, which eventually works towards a nod to Cusack's romantic early-00 comedy Serendipity (If you stare hard enough, you can probably find most of his films being referenced in some way, as this is an out and out celebration of the man's work). Each character takes off on their own, trying to right the wrongs of the past. It's not reinventing the wheel, but its hilarious. Poor Clark Duke, though. He is the one forced with the task of getting everyone back to 2010. Chevy Chase, appearing as a mythical time altering deity, holds the key to their return. Which involves retrieving a can of Russian energy juice called Chernobully. As they say: It's not about the journey. It's about the stops along the way. And Hot Tub Time Machine makes some ball crushing stops.

The only disappointment in the film is William Zabka. The uncredited actor, who played Daniel's nemesis in the Karate Kid, participates in one of the film's best gags. And its later set up for him to come in with "Sweep the leg, Johnny." But that moment never arrives. Maybe it was left on the cutting room floor. Oh, well. That aside, Hot Tub Time Machine is quite an amazing ride. It might not make much of an impact this weekend, but it will be one of those classic comedies in the future, where you'll have to stop and watch it whenever it comes on no matter what. Definitely go see it. No matter who you are, you'll love it. Whoop-doo!

(All of B. Alan Orange's reviews are based on the Boo! or Whoop-doo! evaluation system.)