Hot Tub Time Machine

This movie is unashamed of itself and that, my friends, is what makes it so much fun.

The set up for this hilarious comedy is fairly simple...a group of forty somethings who have grown apart from the close friendship they had in high school are brought back together when one of the old gang is involved in a near fatal "ACCIDENT"...So to cheer up their buddy they go and spend a weekend in the very same ski resort in which was spent many happy days in their youth. However it just so happens that the hot tub in the resort is ...... a time machine.

So the friends John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry and the newbie Clark Duke are sent back to their youth in the 80's but have to (Ala back to the future) avoid changing history in order to avoid changing the world...sounds like fun huh?

Just simple crazy fun.

Its not going to win awards and to my knowledge, hasn't. The characters are really well judged and involving...even Rob Corddry's unyielding alcoholic asshole is lovable in his own way. Craig Robinson is on form with his underplayed style fitting perfectly into the chaos. John Cusack shows us once again what a great actor he is and Clark Duke is..........fine. The stand out performance for me came from the enjoyable oddball Crispin Glover, as the adorably innocent Bell Hop and steals every scene he appears in. Crispin Glover deserves a freaking award for just being Crispin Glover...a Hollywood legend I tell ya.

I dare you not to laugh in this movie......go on just try...and fail. The schoolboy humor with poop gags, vomit, slapstick violence and the questionable goo on the face of Mr. Corddry are refreshing. I cant remember seeing this kind of gross out silliness on screen since the Jackass movie.

So often middle class geeky snobbery prevails and ultimately ruins comedies nowadays. Dragging pure comedy down into the realms of family drama...and sure this can be great sometimes, but these "Dramedies" are becoming tiresome (to me at least) and this is what makes H.T.T.M so fresh, fun and fancy free. Stop taking comedy so seriously...and you end up with something spectacular.

4.5/5 Unashamedly gross and silly...but still manages to have alot of heart with well rounded and lovable characters!

As Lilly Caplan says to John Cusack......embrace the chaos and life may just astonish you.

Review by Joseph Carter aka Joe on Film