Frontiers abroad … and at home
Insights Magazine
Wed, 24th Apr 2024
Hot Tub Time Machine
(MA) Fox DVD/BD
Warning: swearing surges like a tidal wave in this high-concept throwback to raunchy 1980s comedies. It’s a terrific idea for a back-to-the-future chuckle fest, awash with profanity and chauvinist humour.
Three middle-aged mates (John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson) are rocketed from the modern day to 1986 via a spa.
Like many other “bromance” flicks (comedies built around close-knit dudes who share feelings, insults and gross-out moments), Hot Tub Time Machine coats sweet sentiments in envelope-pushing banter, often of a sexually explicit/offensive nature.
Fans of Cusack’s 1980s classics (Say Anything, Better Off Dead) or Revenge Of The Nerds/Porky’s will benefit most from this Time Machine tribute and cameos by Chevy Chase and Crispin “George McFly” Glover add further nostalgic magic.
But reflecting upon the underlying message about being disappointed with the way life has turned out — and desiring to return to your youth and start over again — will be overshadowed by Corddry’s expletive-laden tirades.
Ben McEachen
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