Hot Tub Time Machine

Hot Tub Time Machine
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Steve Pink
Written by	Josh Heald Sean Anders John Morris
Produced by	John Cusack Grace Loh John Morris Matt Moore
Starring	John Cusack Rob Corddry Craig Robinson Clark Duke Chevy Chase
Cinematography	Jack N. Green
Edited by	George Folsey, Jr. James Thomas
Music by	Christophe Beck
Production companies	Metro Goldwyn Mayer United Artists
Distributed by	MGM/UA Entertainment Co.
Release date	March 26, 2010 (2010-03-26)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English
Budget	$36 million
Box office	$61,336,869

Hot Tub Time Machine is a 2010 American science fiction comedy film directed by Steve Pink. Four men, all of them bored with their adult lives, travel back to their 1980s teen-hood, courtesy of a time-shifting hot tub. It stars John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Kellee Stewart, Rob Corddry, Crystal Lowe, Lizzy Caplan, and Collette Wolfe. The film also features stars from 1980s films such as Chevy Chase, Billy Zabka and Crispin Glover.

Plot

The film opens in Los Angeles in the year 2010, where three friends are shown to be dissatisfied with their lives. Adam Yates' (John Cusack) obsessive-compulsive behavior has led yet another girlfriend to move out - an event missed by his geeky nephew Jacob (Clark Duke), the son of Adam's alcoholic sister who does not know who his father is and spends all of his time in Adam's basement, playing Second Life. Nick Webber (Craig Robinson) has a dead-end job at a dog spa, having abandoned his musical career for his unfaithful and controlling wife, Courtney (Kellee Stewart). And both men are doing their best to avoid Lou Dorchen (Rob Corddry), a friend from their heyday who is still obsessed with drinking and partying, long after his prime and living badly.

That night, Lou almost dies from carbon monoxide poisoning in his garage, in what looks like an accident, but could have been a suicide attempt. Having ignored him earlier, both Adam and Nick feel guilty and volunteer to take Lou to the site of some of their most memorable weekends, the Kodiak Valley Ski Resort; Adam decides to also bring Jacob, in an attempt to show him some real life. The journey there is mostly peaceful; Lou and Jacob spend some time sniping at each other, but the majority of the trip is taken up with reminiscing on the fun they had at "K-Val". However, on arrival, they find that the resort has fallen on hard times: many of the buildings have been boarded up and the hotel is in little better condition - cats roam the lobby, the embittered Bellhop Phil Wedmaier (Crispin Glover) is missing an arm and the hot-tub outside their room has a dead raccoon inside it.

Retiring back to their room, the group debates what to do; Lou's attempt to hire a hooker is vetoed, causing him to sulk. However, their attention is then drawn to the hot tub, which has magically been fixed; stripping off their clothes, they jump in and begin a night of drunken partying, during which a can of an illegal Russian energy drink called "Chernobly" is spilled on the hot tub's controls. The next day - after a brief incident with a squirrel - they wake up and go skiing, only to find things are a little strange: people are dressed in day-glo-colored outfits and using "Brick" cell phones, Jacob's Snowboard attracts attention and several of the people they meet are strangely familiar. Walking into the bar, it quickly becomes clear that they had traveled back in time to the 1980s: people are using Walkman cassette players, ALF is on TV and Michael Jackson's skin is still black (a fact that causes Nick to run out of the hotel lobby screaming). Returning to their hotel room in shock, they discover that they have travelled back to 1986, during "Winterfest '86," when the resort was still thriving and the band Poison played to a packed-out venue. And a chance glance in the mirror reveals that - with the exception of Jacob, who had not yet been born - they look to other people like their younger selves, complete with hi-top fade and mullet hairstyles.

In the middle of all of this, a mysterious hot tub repairman (Chevy Chase) appears and tells them that fixing the hot tub will take some time. He also offers some cryptic advice about their situation, suggesting that they need to re-enact the events which happened when they originally visited Kodiak Valley back in 1986. However, this was something of a disastrous trip for all of the group's members: Adam broke up with his first girlfriend, Jenny (Lyndsy Fonseca), and got stabbed in the eye with a fork, Lou was beaten up by Blaine (Sebastian Stan), the bullying leader of the ski patrol, and Nick abandoned his singing career after a bad show with his band at an open mike contest; he also slept with a groupie, which the adult Nick sees as a betrayal to his wife.

At the urging of Jacob - who keeps flickering in and out of reality and is concerned about the creation of a time paradox which would mean he never existed - the three older men reluctantly agree to replay these past events. Lou is beaten up by Blaine, has his rucksack stolen and arranges a rematch at midnight, while Nick grudgingly sleeps with the groupie; however, Adam decides to not break up with Jenny. Angered by this, Lou and Nick decide to take advantage of their trip back to the past, leaving behind an increasingly flickery Jacob, by gambling in a local bar. Their efforts fail however, when the squirrel from earlier interrupts a football game in a classic example of the Butterfly Effect.

While this is happening, Adam returns to see Jenny, only to find that she has decided to dump him; when he becomes angry about this, she stabs him in the eye with a fork and storms off after he tells her that she will get fat later in life. Jacob then finds Adam back at the hotel room taking drugs and writing bad poetry; the hot tub repairman also makes an appearance at their room and makes another cryptic suggestion: to return to the future, the group needs another can of Chernobly and must return to the tub before morning.

Following this, Jacob goes in search of Lou, who he believes still has the Chernobly, while Adam wanders out of the hotel room and hooks up with a quirky music journalist, April (Lizzy Caplan). Eventually, they all arrive at the Open Mic night, where Nick rocks the crowd with his performance of "Jessie's Girl" and a "preview" of the Black Eyed Pea's "Let's Get It Started.". However, the extended show causes Adam and Nick to be late for the planned fight, leaving Lou to face Blaine and his cronies alone. They then track Lou to the same rooftop he sat on after the original fight; Lou and Adam have a fight and the group nearly falls off the roof, only to be rescued by Phil, who (despite several close calls) still has both arms.

With the group having settled their differences, Lou reveals that Blaine has taken his rucksack with the Chernobly in, so the group gets a lift with Phil over to Blaine's chalet. However, Blaine has searched Lou's rucksack and found the Chernobly, leading him to believe that the can is an explosive device and the group are communist spies.

Despite this, the group successfully gets into the chalet and begin the search; Adam and Jacob find the rucksack, but the Chernobly is missing. Meanwhile, an increasingly angry Nick calls his wife (who is aged 9 at the time) and curses at her for betraying him; Adam and Jacob are forced to rush in and wrestle the phone away from him. And in another room, Lou bumps into Adam's sister Kelly (Collette Wolfe) - Jacob's mother. Having discovered that they love to hate each other, they begin to have sex, only to be interrupted by an outraged Jacob, who vanishes altogether as he lunges at Lou. Deducing that this means Lou is Jacob's father, Adam and Nick are forced to wait outside the room while Lou finishes what he started, causing a still-furious Jacob to pop back into existence.

The group then prepares to leave the chalet, only to get into a confrontation with Blaine, who is holding the Chernobly. Lou attempts to attack Blaine but is beaten down again. However, his friends convinces him to stand up from himself and fight back in which Lou manages to get his revenge against Blaine by attacking him; Nick then grabs the Chernobly and uses their "Russian spy" status to secure their getaway from the chalet.

Following all of this, they return to the resort, where the cheerfully waving Phil is hit by a passing snowplow which takes his arm off. At the same time, Blaine's ski patrol arrives to help the bellhop, giving the group time to get back to their hotel room and pour the Chernobly on the hot tub's controls to activate it. However, Lou then decides to remain in 1986, admitting to Adam that he was trying to kill himself, and that if he goes back it will happen all over again; having discovered he is a father, he declares that he wants to use his knowledge of future history to support Kelly and Jacob. Adam then decides to show his friendship by deciding to stay with Lou, but Lou pushes Adam into the hot tub which blasts everyone else back to 2010.

Back in their present-day hotel room, Adam, Nick, and Jacob discover a DVD player with a pre-recorded message from Lou, who is rich, famous and happily married to Kelly, having successfully profited from his knowledge of the future - ventures such as an Internet search engine called "Lougle" are mentioned. They then answer a knock on the door to find a happy and fully limbed Phil; the timely arrival of the ski patrol meant that his arm could be saved and reattached. On returning to their (new) homes, Adam and Nick find that their lives are far better: Adam is happily married to April and Nick is a successful music producer; more, Courtney has remained loyal to him, as a result of the phone call she received when she was nine.

The group then reunites at Lou's mansion, happy with their new lives, and the film ends with a look back at Lou's musical career with the rock band "Mötley Lüe".

Cast

• John Cusack (Jake Rose, teen) as Adam Yates
• Rob Corddry (Brook Bennett, teen) as Lou Dorchen
• Craig Robinson (Aliu Oyofo, teen) as Nick Webber
• Clark Duke as Jacob Yates
• Chevy Chase as Father Time/Hot Tub Repair Man
• Sebastian Stan as Blaine
• Lizzy Caplan as April Drennan
• Crystal Lowe as Zoe
• Collette Wolfe as Kelly Yates/Dorchen
• Crispin Glover as Phil Wedmaier
• Kellee Stewart as Courtney Agnew-Webber
• Lyndsy Fonseca as Jenny
• Charlie McDermott as Chaz
• Jessica Paré as Tara
• William Zabka as Rick Steelman
• Diora Baird (uncredited) as Mrs. Steelman
• Thomas Lennon (uncredited) as Customer

Production

Steve Pink directed and Josh Heald wrote the picture. It was filmed primarily at the Vancouver Film Studios in Vancouver and the Fernie Alpine Resort in Fernie, British Columbia.

Marketing

The first trailer for the film and the red-band trailer appeared on July 24, 2009, at Comic-Con 2009 and on the Internet. The film was screened for free in over 50 cities in the weeks leading up to its release.

On March 29, 2010, actors Corddry and Duke were guest hosts on WWE Raw from the US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona, to promote the film. Robinson did make a short appearance, but only via satellite.

Reception

Critical response

Hot Tub Time Machine received generally positive reviews; review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 64% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 187 reviews, with an average score of 6.1/10 with the consensus that Its flagrantly silly script—and immensely likable cast—make up for most of its flaws. Review aggregate Metacritic awarded the film an average score of 63 out of 100 indicating 'Generally favorable reviews'.

The New York Times critic A. O. Scott stated that "the picture moves so quickly and crazily, swerving and skidding and doubling back for seconds, that minor lapses in wit are immediately overtaken by major (and therefore hilarious) lapses in taste." He went on to comment that, "the undercurrent of misogyny and homophobic panic that courses through most arrested-development, guy-centric comedies these days is certainly present here. But unlike, say, The Hangover, which sweetens and sentimentalizes its man-child characters — allowing them to run wild and then run home to Mommy — Hot Tub Time Machine is honest in its coarseness and pretty tough on the fellows who are the agents and objects of its satire."

Roger Ebert gave it three stars, commenting that, "The bottom line is, gross-out guy comedies open twice a month, and many of them are wretched excesses. Hot Tub Time Machine, which wants nothing more than to be a screwball farce, succeeds beyond any expectations suggested by the title."

Box office

The film opened at #3 with a weekend gross of $14,020,502 in 2,754 theaters, averaging $5,091 per theater. It spent 4 weeks in the top ten and 11 weeks in total, grossing $50,287,556 domestically. The film grossed just over $61 million at $61,336,869.24

Hot Tub Time Machine was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 29, 2010. An "Unrated" version was also released, with the Blu-ray Disc containing a digital copy.

Soundtrack

Untitled

The soundtrack for the film, officially titled Hot Tub Time Machine (Music From the Motion Picture), was released in 2010 by Rhino Entertainment. Several of the songs were sung by members of the film.

1. "Louder Than a Bomb" - Public Enemy
2. "Perfect Way" - Scritti Politti
3. "The Safety Dance" (Extended 12" EP Remastered Version) - Men Without Hats
4. "What You Need" (Single/LP version) - INXS
5. "Modern Love" (Single version; 2002 Digital Remaster) - David Bowie
6. "I Will Dare" - The Replacements
7. "Push It" (album version) - Salt-n-Pepa
8. "Bring On the Dancing Horses" - Echo & the Bunnymen
9. "Save It for Later" - The Beat (known as The English Beat in the USA)
10. "True" - Spandau Ballet
11. "Jessie's Girl" - Craig Robinson (originally performed by Rick Springfield)
12. "Bizarre Love Triangle" (Shep Pettibone 12" Remastered Remix) - New Order
13. "Once in a Lifetime" (2006 Remastered version) - Talking Heads
14. "Home Sweet Home" - Mötley Crüe (also performed by Rob Corddry during the closing credits)
15. "Let's Get It Started" - Craig Robinson (originally performed by The Black Eyed Peas)

Not included in the album

The following songs were featured in the film, but not included in the soundtrack album:

• "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" - Cutting Crew
• "About to Burst" - Ken Tamplin
• "Bar Bet" - Jake Monaco
• "Blind Man" - Newton Talks
• "Careless Whisper" - Craig Robinson
• "Cry Tough" - Poison
• "Cubicle" -The Ultra-Infidels
• "Heaven's Sake" - Perfect
• "Hero" - Enrique Iglesias
• "I Can't Wait" - Nu Shooz
• "I Heard a Rumor" - Ghost Swami
• "I Want to Know What Love Is" - Foreigner
• "Keep Your Eye on the Money" - Mötley Crüe
• "Kickstart My Heart" - Mötley Crüe
• "My Block" - Cham Pain
• "Mystery" - The Little Wands
• "Obsession" - Animotion
• "Occam's Razor" - Ocha la Rocha
• "Patrolio" - Jake Monaco
• "Skin I'm In" - Static Revenger featuring Luciana
• "Smooth Up in Ya" - BulletBoys
• "Talk Dirty to Me" - Poison
• "The Stripper" - David Rose
• "Turn Up the Radio" - Autograph
• "Venus" - The Jerry Ross Symphosium
• "Yes Man" - The Little Wands

External links

• Hot Tub Time Machine at IMDb
• Hot Tub Time Machine at AllMovie
• Hot Tub Time Machine at Box Office Mojo
• Hot Tub Time Machine at Rotten Tomatoes
• Hot Tub Time Machine at Metacritic