10 Great Characters Ruined By Terrible Sequels

We could really pick any character from the original Hot Tub Time Machine for this entry, as Grosse Point Blank scribe Steve Pink’s 2010 hit featured a quartet with better chemistry than The Hangover trio and each of them was done a distinct disservice by this dire sequel released in 2015.

The most obvious candidate for inclusion is Adam, the world weary protagonist central to the first film’s proceedings who is jettisoned entirely in the sequel due to actor John Cusack’s famous (and in this instance very wise) “no sequels” stance.

However, the character most mishandled by this sequel is undoubtedly the first film’s stand out Lou.

Played in a break out turn by former Daily Show correspondent Robb Corddry, Lou is an insufferable lech who of course becomes the film’s most human and likeable figure through a painful and humiliating redemption arc—never has the phrase “he’s an ***hole, but he’s our ***hole” rang more true.

By the time the second film begins, however, any trace of character development has been surgically removed and Lou is as nasty, self-centred, and mean-spirited as ever before. However, without the calming influence of Cusack’s Adam and the dire circumstances which made his unlikeability tragic, there’s nowhere but downhill for the character to go, resulting in a flick which is best erased from canon by fans of the original instalment.