Cast: John Cusack, Clark Duke, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry

Director: Steve Pink

Writers: Josh Heald, Sean Anders, John Morris

With a name like Hot Tub Time Machine it’s clear from the off that we’re not in for a deep, thought-provoking art-house flick here. However, while the brain cells are certainly not strained by this farcical comedy, which true to the name is about, well, a hot tub time machine, of course, the laughing muscles should be.

The story starts when estranged best buddies Adam (John Cusack) and Nick (Craig Robinson) rush to the bedside of their slightly unhinged pal Lou (Rob Corddry), who they believe, and as it turns out quite rightly so, tried to kill himself. Anyway, in a bid to cheer up their chum, the amigos, plus Adam’s video-game loving nephew Jacob (young actor of the moment, Clark Duke, of Kick-Ass fame) head to the site of some of their most memorable drink-fuelled weekends – the Kodiak Valley ski resort.

Given Lou’s frame of mind, the fact that Adam’s girlfriend has just chucked him and Nick is stuck in a dead end job with a cheating wife, it is obvious why the trio want a taste of their former carefree lives, however, when they arrive they are horrified to discover that the resort, much like their own lives, has gone down the plughole. Determined to make the best of their lot, the gang end up getting steaming drunk in the hot tub and end up travelling back in time to 1986 during Winterfest, the weekend permed rockers Poison played to a neon-decked crowd. It was the weekend when Adam broke up with his first girlfriend, his sister Kelly conceived Jacob, Lou was beaten up by a ski control bully and Nick and his band performed a mediocre set in a bar.

At first they are paranoid that changing any little thing could have far-reaching consequences and aim to do everything the same as they did 20 years ago. However, they soon decide to make a few changes in order to improve their futures.

Yes, of course the film is entirely ridiculous but it’s also pretty hilarious too and makes lots of comedic nods to the 80s. Famous faces from the decade such as funny man Chevy Chase, who plays the hot tub repairman, and Back to the Future’s Crispin Glover, who features as a bellboy, contribute to a real 80s vibe too.

Some of the humour is, as you’d rightly expect, quite gross. The audience spends most of the film waiting to find out how Crispin Glover, who we discover at the pre-time travelling start of the film only has one arm, loses said limb, which creates a number of stomach-churning false alarms before the anticipated event actually happens and there is also a ‘memorable’ encounter involving Lou and Nick, a bet and some soap, which is pretty memorable, in the most puerile of ways. Basically, if you’re after simple, in-your-face humour then this movie should be right up your street.

By Louise Meeson

Hot Tub Time Machine is released on 7 May courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox