Release: Now showing
Duration: 95 minutes
Rating: MA (strong sexual references, drug use and coarse language)

About 20-30 years ago, there was a decade known as the ‘80s. Popular culture was at an all-time low: how can anybody defend a decade that gave us Haircut 100, My Little Pony, and Greystroke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes? The ‘80s were a terrible, terrible time, possibly the lowest point in history since the dark ages.

Of course, I am in the minority here. Many people- warmed by the glow of nostalgia- remember the ‘80s as a golden period. This is the prime audience for Hot Tub Time Machine– and I'm not talking about 18 year-olds who have seen Full House and think the ‘80s were ironically cool. Hot Tub Time Machine is for those who actually lived the ‘80s in all its spandex, improvised-dance glory.

The film centres around the lives of three middle-aged men – Adam (John Cusak), a workaholic whose girlfriend has left him, Nick (The Office’s Craig Robinson), an emasculated pet shop worker whose wife has recently cheated on him, and Lou (W’s Rob Corrdry), a loser with nothing to live for. After Lou attempts suicide, Adam and Nick decide to take him (along with Adam's nerdy nephew, Jacob, played by Kick-Ass’ Clark Duke) back to the scene of their teenage misadventures - Kodiak Valley Ski Resort. Upon arriving they are horrified to discover their village of dreams has become a boarded up ghost town, as evidenced in this clip:

Checking into their hotel anyway, they experience a mishap that could surely happen to anyone, an illegal Russian energy drink is spilled on the hot tub controls during a night of drinking and male bonding, causing a rip in the space-time continuum and- before you can say “this is heavy, Doc”- all four men are sent hurtling back to the year 1986.

“It's like...some kind of hot tub time machine” responds Nick sagely, shooting a look down the camera as if to dare you to challenge the very premise of the film.

For all intents and purposes, this is a very good premise. The idea of sending three middle-aged losers (and the token teen) back in time to give them a second chance is an appealing one, but sadly these promising themes are not satisfactorily explored. The individual stories ring true - Adam is delighted at the chance to reconnect with a lost love, only to discover that she would have dumped him anyway. Nick gets drunk and tearfully calls his future wife (a nine year old girl in 1986) and abuses her down the phone for her future unfaithfulness.

Directed by Steve Pink (co-writer of Cusack's previous star vehicles Grosse Point Blank and High Fidelity), the tone of humour mostly sticks to the tiresome gross-out humour made popular by There's Something About Mary. Urine, vomit, semen and homophobic jokes are rife. Overall, the film feels like it's trying to appeal to those who saw Animal House and Porky's in their teenage period, to reignite their middle-aged selves as their dreams fade around them (not to generalize, but if you enjoyed Porky's when it came out you've probably failed in life).

One of the smarter running gags involves a one-armed concierge played by Back to the Future’s Crisper Glover. In 1986, he still has both arms, and over the weekend almost loses it multiple times (including a classic scene in which he reveals his talent of carving ice-sculptures with a chainsaw, pausing only to toss it into the air and then catch it. What could go wrong?)

Props (sorry, that's a ‘90s term) also go to Rob Corddry who puts in a killer performance as perennial loser Lou. He brings to the kind of unbridled enthusiasm to the film, giving credence to the way in which the selfish Lou puts his friends' futures in jeopardy to fulfil his desires.

Ultimately, Hot Tub Time Machine misses out on its promise by not digging deep enough into what makes these characters tick, and for going for cheap laughs over the complex, layered and sophisticated humour that could have easily resulted from such a great premise.

John Potter