If the Back To The Future trilogy had a child and left it in the closet of a hotel room to be discovered and raised by the cast of The Hangover, the result would probably be very similar to Hot Tub Time Machine. But the guys from The Hangover should at least be thankful that all they had to worry about was a crazed, naked Asian man hiding in the trunk of their car, for the gang from Hot Tub Time Machine definitely has it worse: instead of cops with Tasers, Adam, Lou, Nick and Jacob (John Cusack, Rob Coddry, Craig Robinson and Clark Duke) get to go toe-to-toe with everyone from preppy 80s jerks on vintage snow mobiles, to a maliciously unhelpful Chevy Chase, who plays the role of a hot tub repairman who seems to definitely have an better idea than everyone else as to why Reagan is suddenly president again. And while the characters in The Hangover only had to locate an errant bridegroom and make it back in time for a wedding, this movie’s time travelers are forced to relive break-ups, beatings at the hands of the ski patrol, and, worst of all: neon leg warmers.
Despite the fact that the plot of the movie is possibly one of the most ridiculous ones yet this century, the film manages to work simply because it acknowledges its own stupidity. Any movie that sees its main characters travel 20 years into the past in what is, as the movie’s title so succinctly describes, a time machine inside a hot tub on the balcony of a hotel room at a dilapidated ski resort, cannot afford to take itself seriously. Although the movie begins fairly humorously, the real tongue-in-cheek charm of the film really kicks in when the main characters arrive at their destination, a ski resort that three of the four frequented in their heydays. The fourth cast member, newcomer Clark Duke, serves as representation for the type of people the filmmakers were clearly hoping to attract to theaters. Duke plays the nephew of John Cusack’s forty-something mid-life crisis entrenched character, Adam. Cheers went up in the theater when the audience at the screening recognized the resort’s belligerent, one-armed bellhop as none other than Cripsin Glover, whose role in the Back To The Future trilogy makes his casting here a brilliant bit of blatant homage to trio of movies that are both classics in the genre of time travel, and the decade of the 80s. Hot Tub Time Machine is unafraid to borrow from its predecessor, and fans of Marty McFly will recognize parallels in more than one scene, most enjoyably when Robinson’s character decides to bust out some Black Eyed Peas at a time when Fergie would have only been 11 years old.
While the movie certainly isn’t perfect (and let’s be honest, when it comes to plot holes and continuity, time travel movies are the easiest things around to accidentally botch) it is funny enough to make you forget the imperfections.
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