Hot Tub Time Machine

What a ridiculous name for a movie.  What a ridiculous concept.  A viable alternate title would be How the Hell Did This Movie EVER Get Made?  And how in the hell is it, that this movie actually WORKS?  There is no good reason that I can fathom. 

I can imagine that in steel and glass fortresses across Hollywood a cry rang out last summer – “bring me the next Hangover, we need it NOW!”  And having combed through a morass of discarded scripts, some lower level assistant stood tall, triumphantly grasping…. Hot Tub Time Machine.  Or… it was actually developed by people who intended to make THIS movie all along, realizing how stupid it sounded, but thinking they were the team with the intangible elements to make it work.

While there are a few blatant parallels to The Hangover (a trip of sorts involving 4 guys who may or may not actually be friends, memory issues mixed with alcohol, a comedian in a breakout film role, and the readiness of a joke involving genitals…) they are each comedies of a very different texture, and I will leave the comparison at that.  This is a whacked-out story full of HUH moments, and will do nothing to artistically elevate the status of mankind as race.

Here’s the thing, here is my issue – there is no good reason why I would enjoy this movie.  I literally groaned when I saw the preview and mocked (soundly!) those who expressed the deviant thought that it could actually be… fun.  This film, from the preview, looked to be oh-so-many things that I HATE about movies in the new millennium, not the least of which is Chevy Chase.  Before you start the hatin’, Fletch was a long time ago.  Let it go.

I have friends with good movie-going taste, friends that are my go-to people for feedback on movies that I may not see initially, but given their okay, I will be swayed to see it after all.  There are friends who THINK they are movie people in this manner, but will fall stunningly short from achieving said status after having recommended Paul Blart: Mall Cop, or something of similar ilk.  The movie people said SEE Hot Tub Time Machine.  I eschewed their initial efforts, despite persistent (bordering on threatening) text messages to the contrary.  But they insisted… and all I could think was, what the hell is John Cusack doing in this giant crap piece of film?

Disbelief doesn’t really translate well in print when you can not see the jaw-agape look that accompanies the statements.  You have to use an excess of exclamation points to mark the argument.  Imagine my surprise, or my GALL, over liking this movie, and in fact, having…fun!!!!!  I’ve tried to figure it out and the following is the best I have come up with.

A writer I enjoy, Chuck Klosterman, once wrote that he blamed John Cusack for the fact that women have completely unrealistic romantic expectations; that because of him, women look for “the kind of mind-blowing, transcendent romantic relationship they perceive to be a normal part of living.”

I think my boy Chuck has a point.  Lloyd Dobler is in my pantheon of all-time perfect movie characters, and no real guy ever came CLOSE to being that cool in high school, or university for that matter.  And what exactly does this have to do with HTTM?  Everything.  It all comes back to The Cusack. 

My attendance at this movie is a testament to the endurance of The Cusack.  Furthermore, my enjoyment of this movie is a testament to the endurance of The Cusack.  What exactly is it about him that works, and often makes a mediocre movie in to a good movie? 

Chuck Klosterman points out that he is a non-threatening type that guys would begrudgingly respect losing their dates to, but I am not sure how to categorize that quality.  Going back to The Sure Thing, and even that small role in Sixteen Candles, The Cusack has been engaging, inviting you in on the joke, or his personal hell, or his fantastical adventure.  I saw Con Air because The Cusack was in it, and Nic Cage had REALLY BAD hair, which is normally an automatic veto for me.  That same quality forced the capitulation to actually go and see Hot Tub Time Machine, and I have to say, I get it now.  The team that thought they had the intangibles to pull this off HAD the intangibles to pull this off.      

Teaming with director Steve Pink is never a bad idea for The Cusack.  I think they must know each other from ‘real life’ as they have collaborated on a lot of projects, one of my favorites being the film version of a great Nick Hornby novel High Fidelity.  I think it’s safe to say that they should continue to find projects to work on together.  They do a great job of turning HUH in to HEY - that was funny.   

Like High Fidelity and Grosse Point Blank before it (both Pink/Cusack collaborations), HTTM showcases a great soundtrack, excepting all the Motley Crue (hey, I went to high school in Surrey and you are just going to have to take my word for it that the Crue is not associated with ANY good memories and is thusly shunned).  The music is almost a character unto itself, creating a layer of mood that manipulated me into laughing or groaning depending upon the song… yeah, I remember Home Sweet Home.  Unfortunately.

So, in conclusion, I paid movie theatre going money to see Hot Tub Time Machine, and I liked it.  I consider myself a person of movie-going discretionary taste, and I had fun, dammit.  Do I recommend it to others? Yes.  Why?  For no good reason. 

- written by jennifer le vecque