Hot Tub Time Machine 2
Directed by: Steve Pink
Written by: John Heald
Starring: Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Adam Scott, Chevy Chase, Jason Jones, Gillian Jacobs, Christian Slater, Collette Wolfe, Kumail Nanjiani, Kellee Stewart
Comedy/Sci-Fi - 93 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 19 Feb 15
Written by: John Heald
Starring: Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Adam Scott, Chevy Chase, Jason Jones, Gillian Jacobs, Christian Slater, Collette Wolfe, Kumail Nanjiani, Kellee Stewart
Comedy/Sci-Fi - 93 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 19 Feb 15
The powers that be replaced John Cusack, an integral part of 2010’s Hot Tub Time Machine, with Adam Scott for the sequel. You know who the luckiest son of a bitch in Hollywood is this weekend? John Cusack! He dodged an awful, painful retread of a project run into the ground. The original film was fresh, creative, and may have been strong enough for a follow-on, but it does not deserve this wilted, threadbare, thinly disguised attempt to ride its coattails. Hot Tub Time Machine 2 is so wretched, its characters would spend five minutes riffing on how wretched it is; a gimmick they beat to death to hide the asinine script.
The writer of both films, Josh Heald, also has the 2011 credit Mardi Gras: Spring Break starring Carmen Electra as Carmen Electra on his resume. This should be the red flag for Paramount to leave the hot tub time travelling portal alone. To explain the complicated time travelling plot of alternate timelines and the idea of a multiverse, Heald and director Steve Pink employ the device of using other movies to explain to the audience what they’re trying to do. Lou (Rob Corddry, 2013’s In A World…) yells out, “Oh, it’s Like Terminator!” while his son Jacob (Clark Duke) fails at trying to explain what happens in the future affects the past. There is also “Like Looper!” even though the entire foundation is built on Back to the Future II, a film none of the characters mention because it is the clearest rip-off.
The writer of both films, Josh Heald, also has the 2011 credit Mardi Gras: Spring Break starring Carmen Electra as Carmen Electra on his resume. This should be the red flag for Paramount to leave the hot tub time travelling portal alone. To explain the complicated time travelling plot of alternate timelines and the idea of a multiverse, Heald and director Steve Pink employ the device of using other movies to explain to the audience what they’re trying to do. Lou (Rob Corddry, 2013’s In A World…) yells out, “Oh, it’s Like Terminator!” while his son Jacob (Clark Duke) fails at trying to explain what happens in the future affects the past. There is also “Like Looper!” even though the entire foundation is built on Back to the Future II, a film none of the characters mention because it is the clearest rip-off.
We didn’t hate every single character in the first film. They were down on their luck everymen with a chance for a do over. The sequel returns to present day showcasing how they magnify their second chances into obnoxious wealth, fame, and being flaming assholes. Lou owns Lougle, displays a painting of himself fucking a tiger, and appears to be a Van Halen in their prime David Lee Roth drug addict. Nick (Craig Robinson, 2014’s Get on Up) is a famous singer/songwriter who steals all the songs he could remember from the original timeline. His current hit is “Stay (I Missed You)”; a rip-off he feels half bad about when the music video’s cat wrangler, Lisa Loeb, walks by.
Where is John Cusack’s character in all of this? They explain his absence in one throwaway line that he’s on an adventure or a book tour or something. Our moron protagonists hop back in the hot tub but in crazy sequel fashion, they sprint 10 years into the future. Wow, some of them are bald, or broke, or starting to fade away in original Back to the Future style. A Smart car keeps trying to murder Lou who soothes it with some Julia Roberts Notting Hill dialogue. They steal from Idiocracy (a film more plausible every year) with everyone’s favorite game show, Choozy Doozy, featuring some male-on-male butt sex.
About 75% of Hot Tub Time Machine 2 is either a dick joke or homosexual anal sex diatribe. These one-liners are meant to distract the audience from analyzing the time travel issues which are severely complicated and are consistently plastered over with references to previous sci-fi movies. The poster’s tagline should spout the truth, “Ignore the plot; focus on the dick jokes!” The main reason the guys get back in the tub is because one of them gets shot in the dick. Nick’s most famous dance move is relentlessly compared to dicks. John Cusack, seriously, thank your lucky stars.
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