The Franchise: The 2010 cult comedy about a, well, hot tub time machine, was already a modest success at best, earning broadly positive reviews and making $64.6 million against its $36 million price tag. Five years later, a much-discussed yet rarely-requested sequel was released, clearly trying to coast on that cheeky formula of the Home Alone and Hangover movies, where something ridiculously improbable happens again and again, but because the characters draw attention to it, it's apparently OK... How It Died: The sequel was quietly dumped in the cinematic graveyard of February, and without John Cusack, the movie's budget was slashed to just $14 million, resulting in a cheap, lazy sequel that didn't have much of a reason to exist. The film couldn't even make its tiny budget back and was eviscerated by critics, something of a shame considering that if there's one franchise that could probably get by with relentlessly unnecessary sequels, it's this one, given how inherently silly it is anyway.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
