Hot Tub Time Machine
Rated: R (language, nudity, alcohol, drugs, etc.)
My Grade: C+
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Some have said that "Hot Tub Time Machine" is this season's, year's whatever's "The Hangover." It is not. The situation is there, the story is there, the talent is there, the premise is there, but I don't think the directing or execution was "straight" or "tight" enough.
The movie centers around three friends Adam (John Cusack), Nick (Craig Robinson) and Lou (Rob Corddry) who are forty-something men having mid life crisises. Adam recently had his wife (or live-in girlfriend) leave him alone in his home with his 20-year old nephew Jacob (Clark Duke) living in the basement spending all of his time on "Second Life", Nick once had a promising music-career but is now working in a pet salon while in a whipped relationship and his wife is cheating on him. Lou is a druken bore who recently seemingly recently tried to commit suicide. In an effort to relive their youth they all travel to a ski-lodge where twenty-five years ago they had a great time. The ski-lodge also was not immune to the ravages of time.
Things go crazy and it turns out the hot-tub is a time-machine that transports the trio (and Jacob) back to 1986, to everyone else the trio looks like their 20-something counterparts Jacob appears simply as himself and periodicaly flickers like an old tv-set in and out of time as the future becomes uncertain. The group is warned by a mysterious hot tub repairman (Chevy Chase) not to change time which the group tries to do at first but eventualy they say "fuck it" and do whatever they want.
As I said above all of the elements are there to make this a good movie but the director didn't seem to have the "control" to make it happen. Corddry, Cusak, Duke and Robinson are all good talent but it seemed they didn't have the "discipline" or "direction" needed to make something of their roles (Corddry in paticular can reach Will Ferrell levels of annoying if not kept under a leash) and the 80's nostalgia has all kinds of potential.
The movie has funny moments in it but just isn't as polished as it could be. "The Hangover" had good talent too, a good story and premise but it also had a director that could keep things in check and devlop it the way it needed to be. "Hot Tub Time Machine" is well woth a viewing but it could've been much more.
It was "OK", but nothing to write home about. 
