Hot Tub Time Machine

2010 time travel comedy

Rating: 8/20

Plot: A couple high school buddies take one of their nephews and another high school buddy who may or may not have attempted suicide to an old haunt to have a killer weekend. Things are depressing until they get the hot tub working. When an import energy drink is spilled on the hot tub controls, it sends the quartet back to the 1980s--the worst decade ever--and they are forced to relieve a vacation from the past in order to not screw up their futures.

Is it just me or does John Cusack look really really depressed. He's features are droopy, and he just looks like all the energy has been sapped from him. I'm worried about him. If working with Crispin Hellion Glover doesn't cheer you up, I don't see what will. Glover, by the way, is the only thing this movie has going for it. In fact, the only reason I finished the movie was because I knew Crispin Glover--America's finest actor--had more scenes. The first and sadly only laugh this movie got out of me was during a scene where Crispin Glover's character is unloading suitcases from a cart. The rest of the cast (other than the terminally-dejected Cusack) is enthusiastic enough, but they've got a script that was apparently written by teenage boys of below-average intelligence to work with. Chevy Chase takes away any bonus points Crispin Glover gets this movie. Craig Robinson from The Office is fine, and I suppose most fans of this movie will argue that Rob Corddry's idiocy is the funniest part of the movie. But the story is derivative (lots of Back to the Future parallels), the allusions are too contemporary to give this movie any legs, and it depends far too much on raunchiness. If any of it was funny at all, I could excuse all that. Unfortunately, this isn't even as funny as Somewhere in Time.

And seriously, somebody needs to help John Cusack before it's too late.

3 comments:

l@rstonovich said...

I just watched this last night. 12.

*spoiler alert*

I love projectile vomit scenes.

Chevy Chase, wow was he bad in this.

Shane said...

I don't know if it's Chevy Chase's idea of comedic stylings or if he's actually just bored with his career, but the guy has no on-screen personality. Not that I ever thought he was brilliant or anything...

I didn't buy the projectile vomit in this one.

By the way, you missed Crispin Glover in Portland a couple weeks ago. I think he was there.

Barry said...

Mediocre movie with few, if any, laughs. I saw it a couple months ago (Yet strangely enough have not been able to see Winters Bone yet. Cory is going to blow a gasket.)

I cannot remember much about it, except Cusack looking very tired, and Rob Cordory being very very annoying. I cannot remember one scene that made me laugh out loud.


A six for me...it simply had very little to offer.