Super Frat

Hot Tub Time Machine may just be the world’s most perfect movie. Now many of you will go see it or see its trailer and say, “No, this is not perfect, it’s stupid.” Of course it’s stupid. It’s called Hot Tub Time Machine, not Smart Movie That Somehow Incorporates Time Travel in a Sensible and Relative Way. Complaining that Hot Tub Time Machine is stupid, would be like buying a beer hat and complaining how it clashes with your pants. It’s Hot Tub Time Machine, not Movie Full of Intelligent Metaphors for Friendship.

Movies are relative to what they claim to offer and what they actually deliver. If you watch a porno and it has little sex in it, it’s not a very good porno. Consequently, if you buy a porno and it is full of sex, but is poorly acted, lit, recorded and packaged, you probably won’t complain about it. (Well, unless you’re one of those obsessive “porno gourmets” that watches it constantly.)

My point is this: the movie delivers exactly what it promises and then some. Three friends (Adam, Nick and Lou) John Cusack, Craig Robinson and Rob Corddry plus Adam’s nephew, Jacob (Clark Duke) go on a ski vacation. The ski lodge is now a dump, having seen better years in the 80’s when the guys were younger. The guys get into a hot tub and travel back to 1986 where they get a second chance to make their lives better. Plot points are completely telegraphed, but the comedy is not. This isn’t about the plot or time travel, it’s about comedy.

Cusack, Robinson and Duke are all solid, but it’s Corddry who fuckin’ steals the movie as the drunken, wreck Lou. Sense? Well, it makes less sense that the time travel behind Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, but again, the movie is Hot Tub Time Machine not Amazing Revelations About Time Travel Based on Theoretical Research.

Another reason why I love this movie is that it doesn’t beat you over the head with 80’s stuff. Sure, it’s in there, but it’s not the focal point of the movie and neither is the time travel. Ultimately, it’s about the relationship between the four friends. Kudos to screenwriters Josh Heald, Sean Anders and John Morris for keeping their eye on the ball. It would’ve been easy to let this movie wallow in dick jokes or unravel halfway through the second act. Director Steve Pink keeps up the pace filling it full of interesting moments and one hilarious time travel gag (ala Back to the Future).

Do yourselves a favor, bros. Get drunk with your friends and go see Hot Tub Time Machine. You’ll thank me. I give Hot Tub Time Machine 10 out of 10 keggers.