Fans of puerile comedy should make a beeline for Hot Tub Time Machine, a retro-style comedy which sees a group of down-on-their-luck 40-somethings find themselves back in the 1980s. In an unusual choice, John Cusack leads the cast, evidently in some sort of 'humorous' homage to his development as an 80s icon in films such as Say Anything.
The mechanics of how they travel back in time is explained by the title: on a trip to a ski resort they used to frequent as teens, they quartet make straight for the hot tub, which is evidently endowed with some sort of magical powers which somehow takes them back to the pre-internet age of New Romanticism.
Imagine a cross between the Nicholas Lyndhurst sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart, Back to the Future and Porky's and you get the idea. Unfortunately it would be more entertaining to watch any of these on DVD than Hot Tub (yes, even Goodnight Sweetheart). Any chance for some smart gags are either overplayed or descend into the sort of gross out comedy that makes American Pie seem like an Ingmar Bergman film.
There is an incessant 80s soundtrack - which does help to fill the voids between the sporadic laughs - but as the final act drags to a conclusion while the fearsome four attempt to return to 2010, it becomes clear that this is an idea in search of a decent script. There's a cameo by Chevy Chase which only highlights the comedic gap between funny 80s films such as Fletch and the early National Lampoon films and this offering.
Paul Hurley
