Life hasn’t been kind to Adam, Nick and Lou, three 40 year-old friends. When Lou is driven to a failed suicide attempt, the three friends are reconnected after years, and decide to spend a weekend at the Kodiak Valley, a place where they used to have fun, back in the 80s. A last minute addition to the trip is the geeky-looking Jacob, Adam’s nephew. Upon reaching the resort, they discover that the place is abandoned and only attracts elderly people. Just as the four of them decide this was a failed attempt at a good weekend, an accident in their room sends them back to 1986.
The formula of four male characters caught in a crazy situation was evidently successful for last summer’s Hangover, and was bound to reemerge. In Hot Tub Time Machine the four leads are focused on how to escape from reliving a weekend from 1986 during which events occurred which affected their lives. While trying to find a way to reverse the time travel, they must make sure to preserve the timeline of the events that occurred during that weekend, because any changes could severely change their future as they have come to know it.
The 80s Revival Mania
During the last decade there has been an ongoing 80s revival making it as though the 80s had never really ended. This revival is mostly noticeable in music and fashion, a fact that seems logical in as such that the trends which dominated the 80s were the basis for today’s pop culture. On the contrary, the American cinema of the 80s did not function as a building block for today’s cinema but focused on capturing the period’s hype without ever trying to create a new movement. While trying to achieve that 80s feel the filmmakers did not rely heavily on the use of 80s icons – though they did include Crispin Glover and Chevy Chase in the cast - but instead focused on replicating the fashion and music of the time.
The characters’ return to 1986 yielded unexpected truths about life, which many may be aware of but refuse to acknowledge. Upon the three friends’ return to 1986 they realize that their previously nostalgic view of the past differs from the actual past. John Cusack’s character, Adam, is shocked and repulsed both from time travelling as well as the idea of living again in the 80s. Even if the three of them have failed and are unhappy in their lives, the image of their past selves and their old habits is enough to make them frantically look for a way to return to the present. This resistance becomes lax as we see the characters become tangled in a number of funny situations, inspired by a mix of 80s classic and 00s Apatow style humor.
1980s - The Last Good Times?
This is perhaps the secret behind the popularity of the 80s revival: The 80s may well have been the last time society was so stable before the many changes that occurred in the following two decades. The easy-going way of life was to become a game of speed whereby people would start to work harder and longer while trying to balance their personal lives, using more and more of their earnings to acquire new hi-tech wonders. Revivals are popular because they represent the naïve years of youth, and not because people suddenly miss bad haircuts and cassettes.
From the moment the four leads understand how easy it is to change their fate, the film becomes funnier and more interesting. It is evident that John Cusack, Craig Robinson and Rob Corddry enjoy playing their characters thus resulting in a well-written and well-acted film documenting the friends’ trials and tribulations against a backdrop of memorable music hits from that popular 80s culture.
Tasos Melemenidis - Watching and reading frantically about cinema as a teenager, had a major impact on my studies in IT. This was a negative impact as far as ...
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