If John Cusack didn’t exist the ’80s would have had to invent him.
The decade needed an Everyman, the kind of guy who could woo the pretty girl and ski the tallest mountains without becoming a Superman in the process.
So casting him as a time traveling shlub who gets the chance to relive the ’80s is about as smart a casting call as Hollywood could make.
“Hot Tub Time Machine” demands every nostalgic neuron Cusack’s appearance can fire up.
“The Hangover,” it ain’t, but it’s also not as mindless as the oh, so obvious title suggest.
“Time Machine” casts Cusack as Adam, who along with longtime buds Nick (Craig Robinson) and Joe (Rob Corddry) retreat to the ski lodge where they spent some crazy days as teenagers.
The lodge has changed since their last visit. It’s a dump, a fitting metaphor for the dilapidated state of their lives.
A a nice, long soak in their cabin’s hot tub chases away that reality. But the hot tub’s short-circuited wiring also sends them back in time – to the year 1986.
What sounds like a blast from the past is anything but. They quickly figure out that if they alter history it could affect the future – and even threaten the exist of their tag-along buddy Jacob (Clark Duke).
“Hot Tub” is unapologetically R-rated, but the extra leeway doesn’t yield the big laughs we expect. Blame it on a script which can’t bring that extra layer of pathos to the characters nor take full advantage of the ’80s time shift.
We do get a tease of what could have been had the movie allowed itself to reach its full potential.
“We were young. We had momentum. We were winning,” Adam says of life in the ’80s. But the story never builds on this insightful moment.
Cusack anchors the nonsense, and his very presence evokes memories of him holding a boombox aloft in “Say Anything.”
But his character never resonates beyond its nostalgic trappings. The same holds true for Corddry, an unleashed comic id who’s such a jerk it’s hard to care how many times he gets popped in the face by the ski lodge bully.
Some supporting characters pick up the script’s considerable slack. Crispin Glover plays a one-armed bellhop with his usual demented gleam, and who wouldn’t love seeing former ’80s villain William Zabka (“The Karate Kid”) back on the big screen?
But why bother inviting Chevy Chase to the party if you’re not going to give him a single funny line to say?
“Hot Tub Time Machine” is consistently amusing, irredeemably dumb and a reminder that cobbling together all the leg warmers and mullets in the world can’t bring back the ’80s – or trump superior comedies like “The Hangover” and “Wedding Crashers.”
(Photo: Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, John Cusack and Clark Duke star in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and United Artists’ comedy “Hot Tub Time Machine.” Photo by: Rob McEwan © 2009 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.)
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
As a “child of the 80’s,” I am so, like totally looking forward to this potentially gnarly flick, man. I, like, hope it doesn’t gag me with a spoon! Ha ha, thanks for the review, which confirmed many of my thoughts and concerns about seeing HTTM. I’ll have to catch this one soon.
+JMJ+
I’m looking forward it, too! =)
I am so over these “shock comedy” movies. Saw it this weekend and although I did laugh at some points, I wasn’t very impressed.
My husband, who happens to remember the 80s much more vividly than I do, liked it more than I did. Go figure. The 90s was my decade.
I guess I had my sights set too high. I wish comedy writers would get back to making me laugh by writing witty lines instead of raunchy jokes. I’ve had enough of the blow job joke.
That’s why the Apatow Revolution was so vital, Heidi. The best of his films mix raunch with sensitive characters and well-rounded storytelling. You can’t fake that – or hide the lack of it with retro tunes and magical hot tubs.
I can agree with the earlier post, I was quite disappointed with the film as I was recommended from a close friend. I did laugh at parts but not the obvious jokes.