nonsensor:mike's blog

Hot Tub Time Machine by Steve Pink

It's been a while since I got out of the house, considering I spent more than a week down with a 102-degree fever thanks to the flu with an infection on top of it. But one of the perfect remedies for cabin fever is to actually go somewhere and sit inside again, if the location is the Alamo Drafthouse for a pitcher and some laughs.  

Hot Tub Time Machine is nothing new, it's exactly the kind of comedy that's big in the Judd Apatow era: male bonding, eternal children examining their lives after 30, and dick and fart jokes. Fortunately, it's got much more of the latter and less of that bromance/life-affirmation stuff that makes the Apatow flicks a little ickier than they seem on the surface.

It gets most of its laughs from the retro factor. If you lived in the 80s and have ever winced at a photo of yourself, this is for you (my brother, at 38, is probably the bulls-eye target demo for this thing). It's got Kid N Play hair, a jocky ski patrol dude hopped up on Red Dawn, and Poison (as played by a real Poison tribute band).

The cast is great — John Cusack sort of reprises his classic 80s role of the wounded-heart hero, and Rob Corddry goes over the edge of f-bombing, mom-sexing, party animal any chance he gets. The best of the bunch, though, are the bit players: Chevy Chase and the always-amazing Crispin Glover. Movie nerds love him, and even laymen know him from the best time travel film of the 80s. Here he's a bizarre mix of George McFly and a more typical Glover weirdo.

At any rate... I dug it and it's a good flick for a few types of people:

• if you're into having a few dumb, dirty laughs, go for it.
• If you're worried about too many "touching moments" in comedies, fear not, most of the "touching" actually involves penis humor.
• If you want to see John Cusack stabbed in the eye, we got that too.

Good stuff.