HOT TUB TIME MACHINE
US, 2010, 99 minutes, Colour.
John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Crispin Glover, Lizzy Caplan, Chevy Chase, Collette Wolfe.
Directed by Steve Pink.
No, this back to the future for middle-aged men who are louts or wish they had the chance to be louts, is not as funny as the title might suggest. 2009 saw a film in this vein, The Hangover, which (despite ourselves and the characters' shenanigans) we could find quite a laugh-aloud comedy.
We are introduced to three forty-something men whose lives have been lived in regret, especially since a holiday they had in 1986 at a ski resort where a good life seemed possible. One of them has taken an overdose, maybe deliberately but he does not seem to have any grasp on life which might had led to his making any decision one way or the other. His friends, who have drifted away from each other, get in touch and decide to help him by taking him back to the resort. The nerdish nephew of one of them goes along too.
The resort has gone downhill and Back to the Future's Crispin Glover, is a one-armed bell-hop with attitude. The only consolation seems to be a hot tub, presided over by Chevy Chase. When they spill an energy drink (what a way to initiate time travel in a hot tub!), they are back in 1986, ready to re-live that important day and then get back to the future.
But, unless you enjoy the broadest humour, with accompanying body function, language and crass jokes, you will be straight-faced most of the time. They do re-live the past. Something better than what they did is possible as is a wish-fulfilment happy ending.
John Cusack seems out of place in this kind of film (letting the lout out of him but with restraint). Craig Robinson is quite genial. And Rob Corddry is the epitome of gross crassness (or crass grossness), but, it must be said, he does it with full steam ahead and persuasively.
Every review will probably mention the funny sequence when Craig Robinson telephones his 9 year old future wife and upbraids her for what she will do. If only the rest were as inventive and funny.
1. The intended audience? Middle-aged males? The raucous audience? A successful entertainment for the intended audience?
2. The title, expectations, the tongue-in-cheek tone? Chevy Chase as the manager of the hot tub, from the 80s, his appearance, advice, the solution?
3. The time travel, from 2010 to the 1980s, the nostalgia for the 1980s – or not? The perspective on the 80s, people, behaviour, clothes, music, morals? The comparisons with the present?
4. The introduction to the central characters: Adam, the marriage break-up, his grief? Lou, his raucous behaviour, the attempted suicide? Nick, his sense of failure, music, his job? The focus on the nephew, Jacob, his being online, the nerd type? His relationship with Adam?
5. The decision to help Lou, the phone calls, meeting up again, rescuing him, the hospital?
6. The decision to return to the holiday resort of the 1980s? The travel, the interactions of the four? Male banter? The language?
7. The resort, the changes, rundown? Their going to the hotel, the irony of the man with the bags, the lack of arm, his surly attitude, the tip?
8. The hot tub, the drink, the spilling, going back to the 1980s?
9. The 1980s, appearances, style? The jokes about Michael Jackson being black? The jokes in using contemporary terms, references to email and people not understanding?
10. Attitudes, behaviour, sexuality and relationships?
11. Adam, his appearance in the 80s, his hopes, student? The relationship with Jenny? The break-up and her attitudes? Better breaking up with her? The encounter with April, the rock journalist, their discussions, the possibility of a relationship, her leaving, the hope of keeping in touch?
12. Lou, his over-the-top behaviour, language, jokes, bodily functions? Raucous? With the women? Meeting Kelly, the clashes with her? The encounter, discovering that Jacob was his son?
13. Nick, the music, his appearance and hair, performing on the night, the Black-Eyed? Peas song, success?
14. Jacob, shyness, the girls, his anxiety about getting back, the search for the drink?
15. The toughs, their attitudes, their controlling the resort? Policing? Their fighting with Lou, the memories of the past, Lou getting knocked out yet again? The others forgetting to come? The final confrontation, the fight, the soft drink?
16. The curator of the hot tub, his advice, the drink, getting them back?
17. Back in the present, the happy ending, Adam and April together, Lou having decided to stay in the 80s, becoming rich with his computer knowledge, music production? With Kelly? Nick, a record executive?
18. The idea – and the execution? The intended humour – and the lack of humour (except for such scenes as Nick ringing his future wife at nine years old and her dismay at what she heard – and then recalling the telephone call)?
