Review of Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) by Dawdlingpoet — 28 Nov 2021

Two words come to mind when it comes to summing up this particular movie - seriously mediocre. I usually quite enjoy time travel based movies, the premise behind them and I presumed this movie would be pretty zany, not heavy on plot but quite funny in a daft way, I guess and quite saucy, which the former it isn't really but the latter; it is. As far as the time travel element of it is concerned, the movie definitely takes elements from the first Back to the Future movie (which fans of that movie should recognise given the basic storyline mentioned above) in that the characters go back in time and have to ensure the same course of events happen to ensure someone still comes into being, as it were - thinking about it, they go back in time to 1986, which is the year that Back to the Future (the original movie) was made and that the present was based in. The main difference with this movie is that there's alot less of a story behind it, there's no real deadline or even clear reason why their back in time - well ok there *is* but it doesn't come across much in the movie, its certainly not edge of your seat material in any way. This is a movie that will, in my mind, mainly appeal to adolescent men, with heavy use of strong language and sexual references, plus drug references. I knew not to expect much from this but all the same, it really didn't interest me much at all. The characters all came across as quite smug, petty and selfish, plus (in my humble opinion) there was too much dialogue and not much in the way of action or intrigue, so I felt bored and distracted. This movie definitely has the 'gross out' factor that teenage boys enjoy but I don't think it'll appeal to many people outside the teens to early 20s age range.

Probably one of the main or only reasons to watch this movie would be the presence of quite a few classic 1980s American power ballads, although it might be eaiser just to buy the soundtrack instead, or even better I'd recommend the American Anthems compilations but thats a side point I suppose...anyway I'd say there is an element of 80s nostalgia present in the movie. There's one or two fairly amusing scenes but it still doesn't really save the movie for me, as it were. To me this movie doesn't really stand out, its not a movie that your likely to look back on fondly after having seen it, if anything it might be better viewed when somewhat tipsy, then you might find it more funny - when it comes to similar movies based around a group of fun loving middle aged men, I'd think of movies such as The Hangover, which also appeals to a similar adolescent audience as well as to a slightly older audience and that movie I thought was funnier and more entertaining, personally, by way of comparison. I think if there were more in the way of visual comedy then this could have been better but there wasn't enough to it (as it were) to keep me feeling particularly interested in the characters or the eventual outcome, although I do think that perhaps younger males may enjoy it more than me for some of the dialogue but if their/your looking for a strong plot and some decent action then you'd likely still be disappointed. Overall im giving this a 2 star rating as some might find it somewhat amusing but other than that, its really not worth bothering with, in my opinion.

Funnily enough, no I wouldn't recommend it. This doesn't cover any new ground and isn't even particularly funny, as I'd hoped it might be. There's too much dialogue and not enough drama and so I found myself feeling bored and distracted at least by mid way through the movie. If you like heavy swearing and the 'gross out factor' and enjoy movies about middle aged men going back in time to rekindle relationships/mess around with women then you may enjoy this but otherwise I wouldn't recommend it, certainly as a time travel movie it wasn't much cop.