Part 2 of a 3 Part Rated-R Comedy Series

Welcome to part two of this series. Today's movie is one that came out last weekend and I got to see it at the midnight premier: Hot Tub Time Machine

Let me start by saying this is the dumbest concept for a movie ever created. A group of guys spill a Russian energy drink on the control panel of a hot tub which causes them to go back in time. I honestly think they smoked a lot of pot while writing this script. But does it work?

What I liked

Characters

This movie has the stereotypes of every movie in the genre. But it still manages to make them feel fresh. The movie's four main characters are hilarious and you can empathize with them on a personal level because nearly everyone has felt what they have (embarrassment, loneliness, and losing a loved one). My personal favorite actor in this movie is Craig Robinson. He knows how to play the straight man so well. His dead-pan delivery and having an attitude-but-not-showing-it-overtly mentality makes him stand out. I also enjoyed John Cusak, Rob Cordry and Clark Duncan as well. Overall, this movie had a great cast of characters.

Gags

This movie has several references to the 80's, but I have two favorite running gags and references. The first is how the movie tries to be a hard-R Back To The Future. It has time travel, them wanting to get back, trying not to screw anything up, but then saying screw it and changing the timeline forever. I liked how it was done. They did it without directly crediting it. My other favorite gag was this one running joke about a hotel clerk having his arm cut off. I don't want to ruin anything because it is really funny

Humor

This movie has "guy humor" and lots of it. Sex jokes, drug jokes, poop jokes, and several other of the style. But the movie also has some great one liners like, "I write Stargate fan fiction, I know about time travel." This movie left me leaving the theater with a sore throat from laughing a lot.

What I didn't like

Language

This movie loved the f-word. I don't mind a movie using the word, but it needs a purpose. I hate when a movie says "f-this" and "f-that" for no reason. It did get a little annoying hearing the f-word for the 192nd time at the end of the movie. If the language was toned down, this movie would be amazing.

Overall grade

A cheese ball story mixed with great humor, gags and characters made this movie enjoyable. There really isn't any moral, it is a good movie to go see and enjoy. But just know that the movie earns its R-rating.

Grade: B

Check back on Thursday for the 3rd review of this series: Extract