Review of Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) by Aaron W — 30 Mar 2012

I have one thing to say here: thank Bob that this doesn't take itself very seriously. It doesn't de-evolve into a film about four friends, their life and times together and what their friendship means to each other.

Wait a minute, yes it does! Well, sort of, but not really. It's more about the overall idea played out than actually questioning it and getting into the mechanics of it. Hell, even the catalyst for the film (Spoiler: Chevy Chase's character) is never explained or examined.

I see it as a great homage to a decade rather than just a screwball comedy, and to me, that's what makes it work. Whenever the story mechanics come into question, it goes away from it and makes fun of itself.

.. and I like that quite a bit. It does get a bit too schlocky in the final minutes, which bothers me a little bit, but everything before that is comedy gold. I'm not sure if it will be one of those great comedies that we'll be talking about twenty years from now, but it certainly feels that way to me.

Perhaps it's just the nostalgia. In any case, it hangs a hat on the 1980's, time travel movies and gross-out comedies while at the same time managing to be very witty... not just low-brow.