Into the Future of… Oh… 2025

Although I don’t think anyone is going to hold Hot Tub Time Machine up as one of the great comedies of the 2010s, it is a fun, funny movie that does all it needs to. It’s a parody of time travel films that plays lovingly within the genre, all while also acting as a 1980s throwback nostalgia film (starring a 1980s teen heartthrob as well, with John Cusack in a lead role), and it finds ways to pile a ton of jokes and gags into its 99 minute runtime. It’s not perfect, sure, but it gets the job done, and does it well enough that many that saw the film have fond memories of it.

With that said, Hot Tub Time Machine was not a huge success. The film cost $36 Mil to make and only made back $64.6 Mil at the Box Office which, by Hollywood studio math (which requires a film to make 2.5 times its budget to break even) meant that the film didn’t technically break even during its theatrical run. The reason why it ended up being successful at all was because of home video sales, rentals, and other “long tail” ancillary monies that helped to push it over the line. It was successful enough in its long tail phase that the production studio, MGM, eventually decided to make a second film… but with some caveats.

For starters, the budget for the sequel was sliced in half. The production got somewhere between $14 and $18 Mil reportedly to make the sequel, which led to the implementation of a number of cost-cutting measures. The setting for the sequel was put into the future of 2025, in a time period where, even the characters comment, everything looks the same. This was a drastic change from the first movie which saw the characters transported into a loving recreation of the 1980s. But, even worse, one of the main draws of the original film, John Cusack, didn’t even come back to star in the sequel (only making a minor cameo in an alternate ending included in the unrated cut of the film). Nothing about this film told audiences it was a sequel worth watching and, as a result, they all stayed away. Hot Tub Time Machine 2 only made $13.1 during its release, effectively killing the franchise.

And yet, despite all this, I kind of liked the sequel. Of course I went into it knowing it was going to be bad. I had friends who watched it when Hot Tub Time Machine 2 was released, and they complained about how weak and tired the film was, so I avoided it at all costs. I only watched it now as I go through a whole run of terrible comedies (see: Road Trip, Without a Paddle, Scary Movie), and I decided, just for completeness sake, to get this one out of the way. And sure it’s cheap, and it’s not as creative or interesting as the original film. It did, however, make me laugh, multiple times, and that goes a long way towards papering over the flaws of a comedy film. If you can get me to laugh, I’ll forgive a fair bit.

It’s been five years since the guys came back from their adventure to 1986 and for three of them things aren’t going that well. Lou Dorchen (Rob Corddry), lead singer of Motley Lou and founder of Lougle, should be riding on top of the world as one of the most powerful, richest men ever, but he has a terrible relationship with his wife, Kelly Dorchen (Collette Wolfe), and his company is on the brink of bankruptcy. He also has a terrible relationship with his son, Jacob Dorchen (Clark Duke), not that Jacob has it all figured out. The younger Dorchen effectively works as his father’s butler, and has nothing else going on in his life. And while Nick Webber (Craig Robinson) has had a successful career effectively releasing all the hits he can remember from other artists before they could do it first, it’s left him creatively empty, like he’s just going through the motions. What they all need is a change.

That change comes, when at a party hosted by Lou, someone shoots Lou in the dick. Bleeding out, close to death, Lou is grabbed by Jacob and Nick and dragged to the magical hot tub, which Lou stole and moved into his house, so they can travel back in time by a day and figure out who shot him. Except the time machine doesn’t take you where you want to go, only where you need to go. As such, they wind up in 2025 and things are very different for the characters (even if the world doesn’t look that different). Jacob is in charge at Lougle, but is still kind of a mess. Nick’s career has become a total joke and he’s known for a stupid dance everyone mocks. And Lou is a washed out, homeless man that no one likes. The only person that seems to genuinely like them is Adam Yates Stedmeyer (Adam Scott), Adam Sr.’s secret son. The four of them will have to work together to find out who the murderer is, since he likely came from the future, and stop them before everything goes down the drain.

To be completely honest, this film is creatively bankrupt. The first film got by on the stupidity of its premise along with a fair bit of nostalgia mixed with outrageous humor. This film is reusing the basic premise, which already dilutes the creativity, and it doesn’t have nostalgia to fall back on either since this film is set in the close future (that we’re now living in) of 2025. This was done to cut the budget, which I get, but a far-future set film would have been more creative than just, “let’s set the film ten years in the future and make jokes about how nothing changed.” That’s not nearly as interesting.

What the film does still have is a fair bit of outrageous humor, which it can rely on most of the time. The banter between the characters is strong, and there’s a lot of biting dialogue that the comedians deliver so well. There are also a few scenes that are pretty hilarious in a gross out kind of way, and the film is usually able to find ways to twist expected scenes to milk out at least a little more humor. Nothing in this film is groundbreaking, and most of what we see here does feel like watered down bits from the first film, but there are still laughs and that helps. It’s not as funny as the first film, but that doesn’t stop it from being funny.

With all that said, there are major flaws the film struggles to get past. The biggest is the lack of John Cusack. His character, Adam Sr., was effectively the lead of the first film. He had the biggest arc, and the most screen time, so while Hot Tub Time Machine was an ensemble film, you could argue it was mostly Cusack’s movie. Without him we have three characters that aren’t nearly as likable, hanging out and waiting for stuff to happen. None of them really have arcs this time around – Nick is creatively bankrupt, which doesn’t really change; Lou is a shitty person, which doesn’t really change; and Jacob is just… there – and that leaves the film feeling like it meanders without much need to go anywhere until the film has to end.

I can’t help but think there was some plotline written for Cusack that had to be excised when the actor decided not to come back for the sequel, and in that story’s place the film kept everything else and just filled for time. It doesn’t feel as interesting or as strong of a film as the previous movie, largely because nothing happens, the characters don’t go anywhere, and most of the time nothing really happens. Sure, jokes fly around, but there’s no real motivation for any of it except to see the characters hang out.

Even having a murder mystery doesn’t really do much for the film because of the way it's structured. The characters walk around and say, “hey, maybe this character is the murderer.” Then they confront the character and instantly find out they have an alibi. This happens a couple of times, and then it feels like the film gets bored even being a murder mystery at all. What could have been a good plot to carry us forward, especially if the characters weren’t going to bother having arcs on their own, is also abandoned for no reason.

And, while we’re pointing out things that really shouldn’t have happened, we need to address some pretty overt gay panic humor. In one scene Nick ends up on a game show, Choosy Doosy, and the audience chooses to have Nick, as it so colorfully puts it, “fuck a dude”. Then, because Lou made that original suggestion, he becomes the dude Nick has to fuck. Neither of them wants to do it, and then Lou takes a lifeline and forces Adam Jr. to take his place. And then, without us actually seeing it, the film has Nick violate Adam Jr. It even calls it “rape” later in the film which, yes, it is. This is deeply uncomfortable and no amount of mugging or explaining it away really redeems this scene. I can fully understand if this sequence alone ruins the film for you as it almost did for me.

This sequel is absolutely, and obviously, inferior to what came before it in every way. I do admit I laughed at a lot of it and didn’t hate it like I thought I would, but I think that’s largely because I had ten years to prepare myself for the worst and it really wasn’t that bad. It’s also not good, at all, and not really worth watching even if you are a fan of the first film. I did it just to get it done and was pleasantly surprised it wasn’t the worst comedy I’ve ever seen (it’s no Scary Movie), but I also doubt I’d ever want to watch it again. It’s sad, it’s tired, it’s not that funny, and it basically doesn’t have much to do except riff on the first film and waste time. That’s not the kind of film I’d ever recommend to anyone, especially not fans of the first Hot Tub Time Machine. Unless you’re really, absolutely, must-know curious about this sequel, I’d avoid Hot Tub Time Machine 2. You might laugh… but more than likely you won’t.