Hot Tub Time Machine 2: Movie Review

Although John Cusack wisely skipped out on the sequel to the 2010 comedy “Hot Tub Time Machine”, director Steve Pink and cast members Clark Duke, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry have all returned. Even Chevy Chase is back but oddly just for one scene. Replacing Cusack is Adam Scott who is definitely a better fit, but still way too good for something this bad. The first film was stupidly funny, unfortunately aside from a few laughs, “Hot Tub Time Machine 2” is a hot mess.

When we last left the gang in 2010, Lou (Rob Corddry) wound up becoming a billionaire when he invented Lougle (his version of google). Nick (Robinson) has built a massive music career off of other artists hit songs and Jacob (Duke) is basically Lou’s butler. All their lives have changed since their first trip through the hot tub time machine. Lou’s life is a constant party, that is until someone shoots off his penis with a shotgun in the middle of a celebration. It is a good thing Lou stole the original hot tub time machine and keeps it in his home.

Now the gang is 10 years into the future and there they meet up with Adam (Scott) who happens to be the son of Cusack’s character. Through the rest of the movie, they are on a mission to try and find out who murdered Lou in the past. Of course, it wouldn’t be a “Hot Tub Time Machine” movie unless they got sidetracked with string of gross-out gags.

The two biggest problems with “Hot Tub Time Machine 2” are that the time travel laws don’t seem to make much sense here. I am sure the filmmakers gave up on any logic while writing the thing. The other problem is that it is barely funny. I could forgive the lazy time travel aspects if they were at least replaced by some major laughs and the few laughs that is does deliver are far from major.

“Hot Tub Time Machine” was only a modest hit, grossing about 60 million during its theatrical release, but it did large enough numbers in DVD sales to give the sequel the greenlight. It makes sense that the quality of the sequel feels on par with one that would have been made straight to home video. My advice is that you stay out of this hot tub.

By: Marc Ferman