Movie Review - Hot Tub Time Machine

What’s more fun than grown men drinking beers, trying to pick up ladies, and broing out? Try throwing in a (drum roll please) hot tub time machine that transports the dudes back to the ‘80s and it’s a guaranteed good time. While not quite as funny as other bromantic comedies like last year’s The Hangover and I Love You Man, its ridiculous scenario differentiates Hot Tub Time Machine.

The movie is about three guys who grew up in the 1980s and are miserable in 2010. Adam’s (John Cusack) wife has left him. Nick’s (Craig Robinson) wife cheated on him. After the third man, Lou (Rob Corddry), tries to kill himself, Adam and Nick, along with Adam’s nephew, Jacob (Clark Duke), decide to go back to their old stomping ground, a ski resort where they experienced the best weekend of their lives back in 1986. When they arrive at the resort, it’s not quite what they remembered. It’s rundown and empty, and a spiteful one-armed man brings their bags to their room—when they travel back to the ’80s, guessing when the man’s going to lose his arm becomes one of the most entertaining running gags. After a night of blackout drinking in the hotel room’s hot tub, the four men wake up back in their legendary ’86 weekend, with a chance to do it all over.

This movie is absolutely absurd, but it knows it. Just watch the trailer and you’ll see. “It must be some kind of… hot tub time machine,” Nick says before looking directly at the camera with a deadpan stare. The film plays with it’s own ridiculousness. Add in four amusing performances from the leads, and you got yourself a very entertaining and consistently funny film.

It’s even more surprising to see that Judd Apatow and his people weren’t involved with this movie at all. Ever since the 40-Year-Old Virgin, Apatow has ruled this raunchy R-rated brand of humor. He’s produced and/or directed some of the most hilarious movies of the last few years, including Superbad, Knocked Up, and Pineapple Express. We’ve come to expect certain familiar faces in these outrageous comedies. For instance, Paul Rudd usually makes an appearance. And of course you can’t go without Seth Rogen. And Jonah Hill’s is just hilarious! Audiences begin to crack up at the thought of Apatow’s regulars, so the absence of these faces from Hot Tub Time Machine makes the movie’s hilarity that much more impressive.

Instead, this film comes from Steve Pink, whose only other big screen directing credit is the mediocre Accepted. This movie is a huge improvement from Accepted, as it keeps the heart but adds a lot more laughs.

The one actor in this film who has worked with Apatow is Craig Robinson, the most recognizable of the bunch. He has some scene-stealing moments as a bouncer in Knocked Up and has appeared from time to time as warehouse employee and fan-favorite Darryl in The Office. Robinson delivers again as Nick, with some classic one-liners and a hilarious performance of “Let’s Get it Started.” But the Zach Galifianakis of this film is without a doubt Rob Corddry. We knew this guy was funny after he played the oblivious government official in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, but his turn as Lou in Hot Tub Time Machine may be his breakout role.

When we first meet his character, he’s rocking out to Motley Crew in a closed garage with his car running. Corddry’s over the top air drum solo actually makes Lou’s suicide attempt darkly hilarious, not an easy feat. Lou’s depression and craving for the carefree ’80s serve as the driving force of the story and Coddry’s performance keeps the laughs coming throughout most of the film. Look forward to seeing what this guy does in the future, because his name could soon become as recognizable as Seth Rogen’s.

Hot Tub Time Machine won’t win any awards, but fans of Apatow movies and other R-rated raunch-fests should enjoy it. Though it’s still early, this is easily, definitely, something the funniest movie of the year.