Review of Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (2015) by Bill M — 17 Apr 2015

Hot Tub 2 is the five years late, Cussack-less sequel to 1010's mini comedy classic, and it's fairly disappointing, for starters the plot meanders off to nowhere, not that plot is the most important thing in a movie like this but here it's like they forget about it completely at a certain point.

It's also an incredibly mean spirited and dark comedy, it manages to turn our main trio into somewhat despicable creatures, with Lou especially this time turning from the nasty dick who we somehow still loved from the first to an actual black hearted monster described by characters at various intervals as a virus or even a cancer, and it really fits Lou is an evil creation this time around, and yet it's this commitment to making our heroes surprisingly, nakedly unpleasant people that makes this a bit of a bad taste pleasure.

There are many other issues, like the glaring cussack shaped hole, or side plot's that go nowhere with wasted comedy potential (like the automatic futuristic smart car that wants to kill Lou) and the end credits scenes cock tease a much better film than the preceding 90 minutes we got, the other big issue for me was the sluggishness of laughs, there are whole stretches between real laughs or godd gags in the movie, so many scenes fall flat, so much misses the mark.

But it's still lots of fun, with the multifaceted Adam Scott owning the film, especially in his hilarious, extended futuristic drug trip scene, and the main trio are fantastic once again, Craig Robinson is one of those guys who doesn't have to do much to make me laugh, easily one of the most effortlessly funny people in movies right now, Clark Duke is great, once again proving his standing as one of the most talented and underrated comedic actors working now, but the movie belongs to Rob Corddry again as Lou, he's a force of nature.