Now on DVD: Hot Tub Time Machine

This past weekend I had a movie night and loaded up on comedies that I hadn't gotten a chance to see in the theater. Usually, Summer is a movie-lull month in which few good movies are brought to the theater and even fewer find their way to the shelves at Blockbusters. However, Hot Tub Time Machine caught my glance from across the store and I pounced at the opportunity to watch John Cusak, Rob Corddry, and Craig Robinson poke fun at each other and the year 1986. Within a half an hour, I was bored and disappointed.

Cusak, Corddry and Robinson are all friends who have somehow gone astray in their personal lives and their friendship with each other. When Corddry tries to commit suicide, Cusak and Robinson come to see him in the hospital where the gang starts to reminisce about the time that they spent at a ski lodge in 1986. The three decide to return to the lodge to do some much needed bonding and bring Duke along for the ride. The four men start drinking and soon find themselves partying in the hot tub. As the title states, the hot tub transports the men to 1986 which just happens to be the year that Duke was born. They make a pact to relive the night exactly as they had 24 years ago so that they can return to the present. Of course things don't always go as planned and hilarity ensues.

Unfortunately, I found very little hilarity in this film. I chuckled a few times at the period clothing, fear of Russia and communism, and the music. But those were the only jokes that I found even remotely humorous. Otherwise, it was just your typical "American Pie", "Euro Trip" romp which is fun for the first while but I couldn't help but feel that many of the jokes are now old hat. I was expecting more and found this film virtually laugh-free.

-DLP