Hot Tub Time Machine

Stars: John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Chevy Chase, Lizzy Caplan, Lyndsy Fonseca, Crispin Glover, David Bowie

Director: Steve Pink

Fed up with their lives, and rescuing one of their number who has tried to commit suicide, three longtime friends (Cusack, Corddry, Robinson) and a young hanger-on (Duke) embark on a long road trip to the ski resort of their youthful days.

Then, the joint was jumping. Now, they find it's virtually a ghost town. Still, there's a Jacuzzi, which a mysterious repair man (Chase) tranforms, with help from a can marked Chernobyl, into a glowing, whirlwind hot tub which transports them back to 1986. 'Wow,' says Corddry, 'let's get some cocaine, or break into a school, or steal a cop car.'

That's the cue for projectile vomiting, bodily function riffs, drug-taking, lots of shouting and a string of staggeringly unfunny sight gags. For example, Corddry lines up a dozen whiskies and slides one along the bar to the girl (Collette Wolfe) he fancies. She ignores it and it smashes against the end of the bar. Corddry does the same thing again. Guess what? It smashes again. Funny, or what?

'I wanna go home,' his character explains at frequent intervals. I echoed the sentiment. Whatever possessed Cusack, of all people, to do this?

David Quinlan

USA 2010. UK Distributor: 20th Century Fox (MGM/United Artists). Colour by deluxe.
98 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 2, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 2, Swearing 2.

Review date: 03 May 2010