Ever get the feeling that the world - the way it is - isn't really what we had in mind, and is someone elses [aka the Boomers'] fault? It was during our time that Pac Man came along, and video games. That was all good right? But whose idea was the Internet? Who came along and fucked up the nuclear family?
Actually I think drugs have a lot to do with cheapening relationships. Drugs and diet - these instant foods and instant mood perkers, all in the name of serving the self exactly what it wants, when it wants. This trend towards self gratification, where is it taking us? . Hot Tub Time Machine takes a bunch of misfits back to when it all started. It's a riot.
Adam: One little change has a ripple effect and it effects everything else. Like a butterfly floats its wings and Tokyo explodes or there's a tsunami, in like, you know, somewhere.
Jacob: Yes exactly. You step on the bug and the fucking 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.
What I found ironic and perverted about this film is that it is really about a bunch of 40-somethings who look like they're half their age to everyone else [except to us, the viewers], and they're running around and all the girls are throwing themselves at them. Bit on an unreal fantasy isn't it?
Lou: Two things, number 1 fuck you, I hate you!
[pause]
Lou: our friendship means nothing
Adam: Is that the second thing or is that still part 1?
Lou: Obviously that's still the first one
Jacob: I didn't get it
Nick: [to Lou] You said A and B
That's really the kicker of Hot Tub Time Machine. It's absurd. It's not supposed to be credible, but it is supposed to talk to our collective guilt, our collective regret, our collective participation in - yep - the 80's. What were we thinking? Wearing all those colors, all that hair? Being promiscuous despite the threat of the bomb and AIDS? Playing on computers that looked like oversized calculators.
Jacob: I'm kinda right in the middle of a thing right now, but can I text you later?
Girl at Club: Can you what?
Jacob: Are you online at all?
Girl at Club: I have no idea what you're talking about.
Jacob: How do I get a hold of you?
Girl at Club: You come find me.
Jacob: That sounds... exhausting.
Hot Tub Time Machine isn't for everyone. I don't know if today's teenagers will get it, although the one armed dude subplot may appeal to the 'Final Destination' set. All in all a harmless hoot from that cesspool of sin that's spilled us into our current conundrum. But if we could have lived it over, would we really have done anything different? Would we have used less aerosol spray? Would we have forgone our Porschesand Ferraris and gone big for bicycles and electric cans on wheels? None of these serious thoughts belong in this romp. Good performances by John Cusack as Adam, and Clark Duke as Jacob [also in Kick Ass].
Score: a solid 7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment