5. Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
Genre: Comedy
This is the most recent film on the list and by default, probably the easiest to get your hands on. Its also raucous, laugh-out-loud, and a must-see for anyone who grew up in the 80s. The film introduces us to three forty-somethings - Adam, Nick and Lou, (played by John Cusack, Craig Robinson and Rob Corddry) who are all failing at life. Adams girlfriend has left and cleaned out the house, Nick sticks his fingers up dogs arses for a living, and Corddry tried to kill himself. So yeah, you think
you had a bad day! Adam and Nick decide that Lou needs cheering up and so they take him to a ski resort that they went to when they were teenagers, when life was fun and when they had their whole lives ahead of them. And for good measure they bring along Adams slacker nephew, Jacob (Clarke Duke). There they discover a hot tub that transports them back to the 80s, when they were young. Not only that but they really are 19 years old once again! Now they can make amends for all the things that went wrong, the girlfriend they wished they never broke up with, the bully they wish they stood up to, the music career they wish they started. Yes this film pokes fun at the 80s, the fashion and the mobile phones but more than that, the film is fresh. Fresh in its approach and tackling of old clichés, such as facing your past and getting closure, and fresh in its attitude. Gone is the overly schmaltzy
I love you, guys and in its place is:
Jacob:You step on the bug and the f**** internet is never invented.
Lou: Oh, then you'll have to talk to girls with your mouth.
Jacob: Yeah. No. I was more concerned about bigger consequences like not being born.
Lou: Yeah. No. I don't care about that. Hot Tub Time Machine is unapologetically straight-male centric:
Jacob: For your information, I've had a lot of girlfriends. Hot
ones.
Lou: You have had lots of boyfriends. Gay ones. And
Lou: Every young man's fantasy is to have a three-way.
Jacob: Yeah not with another f**** guy!
Lou: It's still a three-way!
Its also self aware, making references to time travel movies such as Terminator and Timecop whilst having its characters act realistically were they zapped back in time 25 years:
here's a question. Was it morally wrong for me to exploit my knowledge of the future for personal financial gain? Perhaps. Here's another question. Do I give a f***k? As a nod and a wink to the 80s time travel movies, it also features Crispin Glover (who played George McFly in Back to the Future) as a bellhop who in 2010 has only one arm but in the 80s has two. And so starts a recurring theme of when and how does he lose his arm? replete with many a close shave involving runaway lifts and out of control chainsaws. With talk of hookers, three way sex, bets where the loser has to blow his friend, living out Red Dawn, Hot Tub Time Machine is a laugh riot, mans film that wipes the floor with The Hangover.