‘Hot Tub Time Machine’ Better Than Expected

Who could really pass up on a title like that? It’s absurd, amusing and informative. I’ll freely admit that I couldn’t pass on a movie called ‘Hot Tub Time Machine.’ Plus, who could pass up on a film filled with crazy ’80s outfits and Darryl from “The Office?” I felt that this was surely a combination guaranteeing hilarity.

The best piece of advice I can give before seeing this movie is to keep your expectations low. While it is funny, it surely doesn’t compare to the likes of ‘The Hangover’. I would say we’re still waiting for that summer box office smash that everyone must see, but this is a good hold over while we wait in the mean time.

The movie follows a group of four friends who decide to travel to one of their favorite vacation spots from their teenage years after their friend Lou (Rob Corddry) is in desperate need of some down time.

As the title reveals, the group decides to go for a dip in a hot tub that also happens to be a time machine. They wake up the morning after their wild night, realizing that the year is 1986. Worried their actions may have an adverse effect on the future, they attempt to reenact exactly what they did on that day in 1986.

After several failed attempts at recreating the past, the guys decide that it isn’t worth trying to do everything in the exact same way they had done it. Instead, they make more of an effort to live the past the way they wished they had done the first time. Lou attempts to win a fight with a bunch of bullies in which he’d originally lost, Adam (John Cusack) chooses to not break up with his then girlfriend, and Nick (Craig Robinson) makes a better song choice for a gig he had performed.

Of course, everything works out in the end. Naturally, the future is different from the way they left it, and everyone’s happy with the outcome.

This film wasn’t short on jokes and there are plenty of entertaining and quotable scenes you’ll be sure to remember with whatever friends you see it with and it’s certainly the sort of film you should see in a group. However, there aren’t many memorable/hilarious scenes you’ll be laughing about for the weeks to come like in some other comedies. It’s an enjoyable film nonetheless, just don’t expect anymore than what it offers at face value.