“Hot Tub Time Machine” is all wet. If only it could have lived up to the promise of its goofy, reductive title and early teaser trailer. But sometimes a high-concept movie wallows so completely in lowbrow nonsense — and is so devoid of story interest and character appeal — that it can’t function even as a guilty pleasure.
If you go
‘Hot Tub Time Machine’
1 out of 5 Stars
Stars: John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson
Director: Steve Pink
Rated R for strong crude and sexual content, nudity, drug use and pervasive language.
Running Time: 93 minutes
Forget the super-cheap production values or that the editing looks like it was implemented by way of hacksaw. Producer-star John Cusack and his previous collaborator, director Steve Pink, also commit the cardinal sin of the intentionally silly/raunchy man comedy: They made it boring. Gross-out visuals of body fluids, homophobic panic and sexist lechery get a pass if those gag attempts come with some originality and the narrative has engaged you. “The Hangover” was one of the best pictures of last year because, well, it was actually funny — not just explicit.
This postmodern sendup of a bygone era and subgenre had potential. A magic whirlpool? Funny idea. Here, it transports some middle-age losers into the past. Now they can relive a pivotal night from their mid-1980s youth in order to repair their present.
Specifically, this farce exaggerates and turns filthy the mid-1980s time traveling movie. Between 1984 and 1986, pop culture touchstones “The Terminator,” “Peggy Sue Got Married,” “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” and “Back to the Future” were released. “Hot Tub” most directly references “Back” with its time travel “rules.” In addition, “Back” actor Crispin Glover has a recurring bit part in today’s picture.
But while filmmakers were busy adding the meta subtext, they put less thought into everything else. Whole scenes feel like they were improvised … badly improvised. As if to rub it in, reminding us of how much better spontaneous comedy used to be, original not-ready-for-prime-time player Chevy Chase even disappoints in a cameo role.
The main performances hardly register. Cusack’s protagonist just got dumped. His nerdy nephew (Clark Duke) has no life. “The Daily Show’s” Rob Corddry plays a suicidal alcoholic who never became an adult. “The Office’s” Craig Robinson has a dead-end job and a wife who cheats on him. A trip to their favorite old ski resort and a dip in a possessed old Jacuzzi changes everything for these one-dimensional guys.
Tacky clothes, bad television and Pac-Man — all the cliched ’80s motifs are included. But the “Machine” just doesn’t work.
