Hot Tub Time Machine. Silly, right? Wrong.

 

Editor’s note: Peter Lewis has agreed to use whatever it is you call his writing style to provide some measure of analysis to those folks who still go to a theater to see a movie. Enjoy.

review by Peter Lewis

Is this where we are as a society? Hot Tub Time Machine? Really? As far as titling movies goes, it certainly rivals the literal wonder of Snakes on a Plane.

Descriptive titling aside, the film’s conceit is nothing short of ridiculous, so it would be easy to presume that the movie would be a mess of regurgitated gags and unimaginative dialogue. And this is also where most of folks would be wrong. I liked Hot Tub Time Machine. Didn’t see that coming, did you?

Directed by Steve Pink, Hot Tub Time Machine is built around the (estranged) relationships of three friends, Adam (John Cusack), Nick (Craig Robinson), and Lou (Rob Corddry). Together with Adam’s nephew, Jacob (Clark Duke), they venture back to Kodiak Valley for a short ski vacation, hoping it might cheer up the depressed Lou.

“K-Vall” was the site of their halcyon days, when their lives were still choices they made. Youthful and invigorated, the world was spread before them like a vast picnic blanket. But much like their individual lives, these friends arrive to find the ski resort in utter disrepair. Things were not what they had envisioned.

While the parallel themes between life and its Kodiak Valley microcosm are by no means revolutionary, they are honest. HTTM doesn’t purport to be something its not.  Sure it is a ridiculous comedy, but it is also an earnest examination of friendship and the roles our decisions play in shaping our future selfs.

Though the writing is quite good, the actors make this movie truly shine. Whether it was fate or design, the pairing of Cusack, Robinson, Corddry, and Duke was essential.  Cusack is his twitchy and neurotically whiny best. This flows neatly into the dry incredulity of Robinson (I personally believe that Robinson is one of those transcendent “team” players like Dennis Johnson or Randy Winn. Never quite getting their proper due, but consistently making everything around them better. Try to imagine Pineapple Express or The Office without him). Running concurrent to this was the acerbic humor of Corddry and the nerdy sarcasm of Duke. The entire ensemble sizzled while maintaining an air of relaxed conviviality throughout.

This humor drives the film. Along the way, however, the audience is treated to existential examinations, creating an interesting and perhaps precarious symmetry between the two halves. This balance between ridiculousness and true emotional exploration is an endearing combination, one that creates some surprising depth in the film.

Yet, it seems the filmmakers took the admonitions of Lord Darlington, for despite moments of weight, the film refuses to ever take itself too seriously. Even on the edges of suicide, there was always a wink waiting for the audience around the corner.

HTTM is not going to be winning any major awards from the Oscars or the Golden Globes (rarely, if ever, is levity for levity’s sake rewarded properly in official realms). But this film wasn’t made for the awards crowd, there’s just too much adolescence. Hot Tub was created to spur laughter and it does, in spades. A true and honest film that puts smiles on faces, no matter how preposterous the conception, is always something that I will gladly laud.

• Hot Tub Time Machine is playing at the Carmike 14 and the Malco Cinema 12 in Fort Smith, and the Malco Van Buren Cinema. Link here for time and ticket info.

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