#Hot tub time machine series#

Once the boys settle into their misery (and apathy), the film storms into the 1986 world, opening the film up to easy, but effective jokes about hairstyles, clothing, and music, executed with a generous nature, nothing snide or too easy. Perhaps it's a ruse, maybe it's laziness, but the stagnant air of boorish behavior sets an important tone that director Steve Pink ('Accepted') spends the rest of the picture contorting into unexpected greatness. Opening with an animal fecal gag, a spray of vomit, and the miracle of male nudity, 'Hot Tub Time Machine' doesn't exactly offer the glad hand in its first act. Trouble is, considering how their lives turned out, some of the boys may never want to go back. Panicked, the friends are given vague direction by a mysterious repairman (Chevy Chase) to carefully relive the events of the day, helping them return to 2010. With the help of a can of illegal Russian energy soda, the men turn their hot tub into a time machine, whisking them back to early 1986 when the world was their oyster. Looking to rekindle their youth, the gang, with Adam's social reject nephew Jacob (Clark Duke) in tow, head to their favorite ski resort for a weekend of partying. Life is simply awful for estranged pals Adam (John Cusack), Lou (Rob Corddry), and Nick (Craig Robinson), who've left behind their mid-'80s heyday for a miserable adulthood, filled with cheating women, humiliating jobs, and suicide attempts. For those who elect to ride out the booze-soaked, forked-tongued storm, they receive a startlingly alert, good-natured, borderline poignant slapstick comedy that makes the most out of a one-joke premise. The effort is to establish a potent tone of vulgarity to prepare the audience for the runaway-boulder-sprint of comedy ahead, sloshing around the chum to see who decides to stick around.

#Hot tub time machine series#

There's a 15-minute period at the commencement of 'Hot Tub Time Machine' where matters feel rather dire: faced with a loopy plot, a competitive cast of comedians, and well, the hot tub, the film proceeds to roll out a series of gross-out jokes and an endless stream of profanity.