Movie Review – Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
Concluding our review of winter movies (at least for now) is a film that combines friendship and bonding along with heavy drinking, time travel, and a wild night at a ski resort back in 1986.
We’re talking about Hot Tub Time Machine, a comedy film that teaches us not to abandon our friends and that it’s never too late to make changes in your life. That is, as long as you can time travel into the past and correct your previous mistakes.
In Hot Tub Time Machine, Lou Dorchen is hospitalized after what is suspected as an attempted suicide. His friends Adam Yates and Nick Webber try to lift Lou’s spirits by taking him on a weekend getaway to their favorite ski resort in the mountains. Jacob Yates, Adam’s nephew, joins them for the trip. The four of them party hard in the resort’s hot tub and find themselves waking up back in 1986. A mysterious hot tub repair man warns the guys about the importance of not altering history or the whole “system” could go haywire. As we later see, perhaps repeating history isn’t the best of ideas for any of them.
Directed by Steve Pink, Hot Tub Time Machine stars John Cusack, Rob Corddry and Craig Robinson as Adam Yates, Lou Dorchen and Nick Webber, three adults who have been friends since childhood. Clark Duke plays the role of Jacob Yates, Adam’s dorky nephew. Chevy Chase, Crispin Glover and William Zabka (all film stars from the 1980s) have cameo roles back in 1986.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Hot Tub Time Machine begins in today’s time. As we see, it’s not exactly a glamorous lifestyle for Nick Webber (Craig Robinson) or Adam Yates (John Cusack). Nick Webber’s failed music career and low self-esteem have him working at a dog grooming spa while having a controlling and unfaithful wife. Adam Yates has a better job but he’s unlucky in love as his latest girlfriend has just left him, cleaning out his house in the process. In Adam’s basement lives his nephew Jacob (Clark Duke), a geeky nerd who spends all day playing video games.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Lou Dorchen (Rob Corddry) returns to his home one night and closes his garage door while leaving his car’s engine running. He’s busy drinking and singing along to the music to notice the error. Somebody finds him before it’s too late and he’s taken to the hospital. The doctor believes that it was an attempted suicide, and right now Lou needs the support from his friends. Adam and Nick try to cheer up Lou and offer to take him on a weekend getaway to Kodiak Valley Ski Resort, their favorite destination during their youth.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
That weekend Adam, Nick and Lou head to Kodiak Valley. Much to Lou’s disappointment, Jacob is also along for the ride. The two of them banter and insult each other the whole drive. Arriving in Kodiak Valley, the gang’s spirits are shot as they see that their beloved town is now a ghost town. Businesses are closed and boarded up, and the streets are mostly clear of visitors.
Kodiak Valley Ski Resort is just as bad as the rest of town. Phil Wedmaier (Crispin Glover), the hotel’s one-armed bellman, reluctantly takes the gang’s luggage to their room, the same room that they used at Winterfest back in 1986. They later remember that Phil used to work at the ski resort back in ’86, and it was back then that he lost his arm in a tragic accident. They’re just uncertain about how it happened.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
There’s nothing for the guys to do that night, so they sit around and play a lame drinking game. Lou tries to order a female escort, but Adam and Nick aren’t interested. Angry at his so-called friends, Lou convinces them to drink and party hard in the hot tub outside their room. Adam and Nick agree, and even Jacob joins the fun. The four guys drink hard until they all pass out in the hot tub. At some point during the partying, Lou’s special drink imported from Russia, “Chernobly,” is accidentally spilled on the hot tub’s controls.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
The next morning the guys wake up outside. A friendly squirrel greets them until Lou throws up on the animal. Now that it’s daytime it’s time to ski down the mountain. The guys don their skiing gear and race down the mountain, disrupting the other skiers and finally crashing into each other at the bottom of the mountain. Despite what should have been a hard fall, they feel energetic and youthful.
Things seem a little bit weird when the gang reaches the bottom of the mountain and have a run-in with two punks from the ski patrol (complete with a The Karate Kid, Part III reference — a 1989 film). Something about those guys seems to spook Lou.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
The weirdness continues when the gang notices lots of people wearing retro clothing as they approach the ski lodge. Inside the lodge the retro craze continues as we see references to “Miami Vice,” “ALF,” MTV, President Ronald Reagan, cassette players and even an arcade machine for Super Mario Bros. Nick asks a random girl the color of Michael Jackson’s skin, and when she replies “black” he freaks out.
The guys return to their hotel room and get spooked when a younger (and friendlier) version of Phil the bellhop knocks on their door. This time around Phil has his “missing” right arm. They walk outside and Nick Webber makes the statement that their hot tub “. . . must be some kind of hot tub time machine.”
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
They’re going through their suitcases to discover that the contents have changed to what they would have brought to the lodge back in 1986 when they were teenagers. The clothes have changed and Adam’s suitcase is filled with all sorts of drugs. Believing that they really are back in time, they begin to wonder about running into the younger versions of themselves from the past. But when Lou uses the bathroom, he discovers that that questions won’t be a problem. In the mirror everybody except Jacob sees their younger version (Jacob remains the same age since he wasn’t born yet). When Jacob questions why he sees himself in the mirror, he begins flickering and briefly fading out of existence.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Nick and Lou take some drugs and Nick begins questioning the concept of time travel, even using the plot from 1984′s The Terminator to prove his point. It’s all crazy talk until the mysterious hot tub repair man (Chevy Chase) appears out of nowhere and talks about time travel metaphorically, not giving the guys a straight answer. He warns them that their hot tub is a very special unit and if one little change is made to it, then the entire “system” could go crazy. He disappears just as quickly as he appeared, leaving the guys to figure out what happens next.
Adam, Nick and Lou determine that they have to proceed with the events exactly as they occurred back in 1986. This means that Adam needs to break up with his girlfriend and get stabbed in the eye with a fork, Nick needs to have sex with a groupie and then have a lousy performance with his band, and Lou needs to get beaten up a few times by Blaine (Sebastian Stan), a punk ski patroller who hates him. Jacob needs to not interfere with the past so that he’s still born later that year.
Downstairs in the resort’s lobby, the guys run into Kelly (Collette Wolfe), Adam’s free spirited sister and Jacob’s future mother. She talks about wanting to do drugs and then have sex with somebody in the ski patrol. She’s not too impressed with meeting Jacob and then leaves the guys.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
The guys split up to each re-live their fateful night from back in 1986. Jacob stays with Lou and they go wander the party scene. Jacob mentions that his father (a guy he never met) could be one of the guys at the party as he was born nine months from that point in time. They find a crowd gathered around Phil as he uses a chainsaw to carve an ice sculpture. Knowing that Phil loses his arm at some point tonight (it becomes a running joke in the movie), Lou gets excited when he sees Phil fall and the chainsaw go flying towards himself. But the carving tool misses and Phil doesn’t lose his arm. Yet.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Meanwhile, Adam gets back with his then-girlfriend Jenny (Lyndsy Fonseca) and Nick returns to his old band and then has sex with a groupie. Nick doesn’t enjoy it though and keeps thinking of his wife in 2010, a woman who cheats and doesn’t love him. While walking through the crowds, Lou has an encounter with Blaine and gets punched in the face. Jacob makes Lou repeat the events from 1986, so Lou reluctantly challenges Blaine for a rematch later that night. The problem is that back in 1986 Lou’s friends didn’t show up for the rematch and Lou got his ass kicked by Blaine’s friends.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Adam goes to the Poison concert with Jenny but at the concert he meets an attractive journalist named April (Lizzy Caplan). Neither of them are interested in the band but Adam is reluctant to get to know April as that event didn’t happen between them back in 1986. Not wanting to alter the future, Adam walks away from April.
Back at their room in the ski lodge, Adam reveals that he hasn’t broken up with Jenny yet. The truth is that he’s having feelings for the woman again and believes that he can change things and make it work for them. Upset about Adam not wanting to stick with the past’s events, Lou announces that he’s going to change the past. Now it’s Jacob who’s terrified as if the past gets changed enough then he may not be born in nine months.
Blaine took Lou’s backpack after he won the brief fight, and back at his place he goes through it. Blaine is concerned about the advanced technology and other gear, and he’s convinced that Lou and his friends are Soviet spies. He uses the 1984 movie Red Dawn to help prove his point of fighting against the Russians.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Adam has a conversation with Jenny and it turns out that she was set to break up with him that night anyway. She gets upset and stabs him in the face with a fork. Drunk and depressed, Adam goes back to the room. Jacob shows up and finds him writing poetry about his feelings. All of a sudden the hot tub repair man appears again and warns Jacob about making too many changes to the future. He also reveals that it was basically the Chernobly drink that sent them back in time, and they’re going to need it again to return to the future. That means getting the can back from Blaine and his friends.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Nick and Lou decide to use their knowledge about the future to help themselves. Lou recognizes the 1986 AFC playoff game on TV and begins making sports bets with fellow bar patron Rick (William Zabka). The bets go well and to Rick’s frustration Lou keeps winning from his knowledge of the future. Lou makes a big bet at the end of the game, but as we see, the squirrel from the hot tub appears on the playing field and alters the play, ruining the drive and changing the outcome, making Lou lose his bet.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Adam runs into April again and decides to get to know her. They spend some time together and seem to hit it off. Meanwhile, Nick Webber goes on stage with his band and has a flashback of himself singing George Michael’s song “Careless Whisper.” Nick’s version was a dud and he was booed off stage, a move that basically ended his music career. This time around Nick sings Rick Springfield’s hit “Jessie’s Girl” and rocks the crowd. Nick follows that with The Black Eyed Peas’ song “Let’s Get It Started.” He’s a hit and the crowd can’t get enough of him.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
While Nick is performing on stage and Adam is spending time with April, Lou is stopped by Blaine and his friends. Just like the “real” version of 1986, Lou gets beaten by Blaine and his friends a second time. Lou recovers enough to get drunk and climb onto a roof. Adam, Nick and Jacob find Lou and try to talk some sense into him and have a bonding moment. Lou and Adam slip on the roof and almost fall over the edge but they’re rescued by Phil.
The gang decides it’s time to get the Chernobly back from Blaine and return to the future. As they’re heading to Blaine’s place, Adam sees April about to board Poison’s tour bus. He wants her to stay but she has to leave and go with the band. They make a vow to find each other again in the future.
They make it to the ski patrol lodge and begin searching the rooms for their gear. While doing so Nick makes a phone call to his future wife (she’s just a child in 1986) and let’s her know how angry he is from her cheating. It’s a phone call that startles the child and sets her right in the future. Meanwhile, Lou finds Kelly and the two of them go have sex in one of the rooms. Adam and Jacob walk in on them and the two lovers stop. This causes Jacob to fade out of existence completely. Realizing that Lou is really the person who knocked up Kelly, he resumes having sex and succeeds in impregnating the woman. Jacob returns to existence more upset than ever that Lou is really his father.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
The guys go downstairs but Blaine is waiting for them. He tells them he’ll give them back the Chernobly as long as Lou walks across the room and takes it from them. Lou is reluctant to fight again, but Adam gives him a pep talk to boost his spirits. The talk fails and Lou is beaten yet again. This time he gets pissed and fights Blaine again, this time knocking him down and beating him. Nick grabs the Chernobly and they escape from the ski patrol lodge.
Outside the resort the guys say goodbye to Phil. As they’re doing so a truck rushes down the road and rips off Phil’s arm. Blaine and his friends are returning to fight them again, but Phil’s injury stops them. Blaine quickly takes Phil and his arm to the nearest hospital.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
They return to their room and activate the hot tub. The time travel effects begin again and Nick tells them that he can see the future in the machine. It’s time for them all to jump in it and return to the future. But Lou doesn’t want to go. He intends on staying in the past and correcting his mistakes. Lou tells Adam that if he returns to the future he’ll just try to kill himself again. Adam also announces he’s staying in the past with Lou as a gesture towards their friendship, but Lou pushes Adam into the hot tub at the last second. Adam, Nick and Jacob are all sent back to 2010.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
There’s a video waiting for the guys in their room. It’s a little film starring a very rich Lou and telling the guys that there have been some changes to the future. A friendly Phil arrives in the room (with both of his arms) and tells them that the hospital was able to re-attach his arm and save it. He gives the guys a printout with directions to their homes. As they notice, the most popular Internet search engine is now called Lougle instead of Google.
Sure enough, Nick and Adam’s futures have been changed for the better. Nick Webber is now the owner of his own music company and his wife loves and respects him. Adam lives in a better house and he’s married to April. Lou and Kelly are married and Jacob is still a nerdy guy.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – (c) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Hot Tub Time Machine ends with an altered Mötley Crüe music video now starring Lou and renamed Mötley Lüe. He stars in the “Home Sweet Home” music video as the end credit roll across the screen.
So is Hot Tub Time Machine a good movie?
Hot Tub Time Machine is great when it comes to being a time travel parody film, a 1980′s tribute film, and just a comedy film filled with hilarious moments that include profanity, nudity and sex jokes. As a whole, this is a great comedy and it’s even better if you love the 80′s.
The biggest problems with Hot Tub Time Machine arise with the changing the past / altering the future paradox along with incorrect consistencies with the real 1980′s timeline. Parts of the film are highly questionable based on certain events.
For example, how is it possible for Lou to join Mötley Crüe when it was already an established rock band by 1986? The song “Home Sweet Home” was released on the Theatre of Pain album a year earlier in 1985. How could Lou go from basically being a nobody teenager at Winterfest ’86 to becoming rich and powerful enough to not only force his way into the bad but also create a hit music video almost immediately?
A deleted scene has Lou mentioning to Nick that they could create the Girls Gone Wild business. Unless Lou has vast knowledge of sports or technological crazes from the mid 1980′s, it’s conceivable that Lou went ahead and created Girls Gone Wild to start his fortune. He could then use his knowledge of the future to make even more money in the stock market and “creating” future companies such as “Lougle” and other crazes from the future. But most of that takes time for the technology to develop until Lou has enough scientists and engineers working for him. So for Lou to gain quick money and fame, he probably went ahead and gone ballistic with the Girls Gone Wild idea. He could have then bought his way into the Mötley Crüe / Lüe band and taken it from there.
Other inconsistencies with Hot Tub Time Machine include incorrect 1986 references including: The Karate Kid, Part III (a 1989 film); “ALF” on television (“ALF” didn’t hit the networks until the Fall of 1986); the Rambo III poster on Blaine’s wall (a 1988 film); Adam listening to Cutting Crew’s “I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight” 1987 song while writing poetry about Jenny; and Mötley Crüe’s “Kickstart My Heart” hit song from 1989.
As far as “ALF” and Winterfest ’86, one has to question when an event like Winterfest would have likely taken place. Winter doesn’t officially begin until December 21st, and the vast majority of “winter” titled events take place in January and February during the peak of winter. Since this takes place at a ski resort, it’s technically possible that Winterfest ’86 might have occurred in November of December of 1986, but this is highly unlikely. Chances are good that this event occurred in early 1986 and the “ALF” reference would therefore be incorrect.
It’s almost like somebody just took a bunch of 1980′s references and threw them into this film whether they were from the early 1980′s or not. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as Hot Tub Time Machine is a parody of both time travel and the 1980′s, but it is sloppy.
Despite the inconsistencies with the 1980′s references and Lou’s ability to join Mötley Crüe in the end, Hot Tub Time Machine is still a fun film and has plenty of comedic moments. The whole skit with Phil having near misses with losing his arm is hilarious.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – movie trailer
If you love comedy films along with time travel, lots of alcohol, profanity, and tons of 1980′s references, then you should definitely check out Hot Tub Time Machine. This is one of those films you could easily watch a few times and not get bored with the movie. Just shut off your brain and don’t look too much into it.
Jacob – “For your information, I’ve had a lot of girlfriends. Hot ones.”
Lou – “You’ve had lots of boyfriends. Gay ones.”
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Nick – “It must be some kind of hot tub time machine…”
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Nick – “This better be the last time my ass travels through time!”
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Lou – “Here’s a question. Was it morally wrong for me to exploit my knowledge of the future for personal financial gain? Perhaps. Here’s another question. Do I give a fuck?”