Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (2015)
Certified: 15
Duration: 93 minutes
Directed by: Steve Pink
Starring: Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, Clark Duke, Adam Scott, Chevy Chase, Collette Wolfe, Gillian Jacobs, Christine Bently, Kellee Stewart, Bianca Haase, Jason Jones
KRS Releasing Ltd
After the Hot Tub Time Machine antics, Lou (Rob Corddry) and Nick (Craig Robinson) have made the best use of time travel and are now terribly rich. Lou has become a rock star and is a technology innovator with the Louggle, a search engine company, while Nick is an influential recording artist.
Jacob (Clark Duke) has turned his adventure into a money-making enterprise. At one point, Lou, who becomes even more obnoxious, ends up getting shot. Jacob thinks that the assassin might be someone from Lou’s past.
The suspects include Brad (Kumail Nanjiani), an engineer at Louggle who has led such a waste of a life, Gray Winkle (Jason Jones), who is terribly angry at Lou since he was to have gone on the original trip, and Kelly (Collette Wolfe), Lou’s unsatisfied wife.
They use the time machine and end up in the future where they are united with the serious-looking Adam (Adam Scott), who is the son of their best friend, and Jill (Gillian Jacobs), whom he is about to marry. A series of events leads the group to try to alter the future in order to save the past – which is really the present.
In 2010, The Hot Tub Time Machine was a minor hit with takings of $64 million. Since then, from the film has gained a cult following. The sequel is a sci-fi naughty comedy that will essentially appeal to the fans of the original film. The budget has been halved and all the cast returns except for John Cusack (this perhaps is the reason for the tardiness in the release of a sequel, and also the slashing in the budget).
While the first movie was silly and loveable, this comedy is silly and naughty, tending more towards juvenile humour. The three members of the original cast are game enough and dive head into whatever nasty and low-brow situation director Steve Pink immerses them in.
The film ends up being more in line in set-up – not style and content – to The Back to the Future movies as the characters continue to make use of the jacuzzi to the detriment of our timelines.
The dialogue feels like it was not scripted at all but voiced off the cuff and improvised all through, inducing much more laughter. The female cast is there to act as titillation to adolescent boys’ dreams. Corddry is still obnoxious, but strangely enough in this film, he is still fun in his own unique way, while Scott is hilarious as Cusack’s son.
The film’s plot is only there as it is mandatory, as the wild humour works as a series of skits focused on hot tubs, male egos, time travel and body parts!