Hot Tub Time Machine 2 isn't worth the time

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      Starring Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson. Rated 14A. Now playing

      Hot Tub Time Machine was shot in Vancouver and starred John Cusack. Hot Tub Time Machine 2 was shot in New Orleans but has no John Cusack. It doesn’t even have Crispin Glover. That’s because it was made with half the original movie’s budget and none of its soul. It’s really not worth your time.

      This time, the plot revolves around Rob Corddry’s Lou, which is dumb because Lou’s so obnoxious we don’t care what happens to him. After the gang’s trip back in time to 1986, Lou grew up to front “Motley Lou” and to invent the “Lougle” search engine. So at the start of the sequel, he’s an insanely rich jerk. Meanwhile, Nick (Craig Robinson) grew up to write hit songs before the original artists could. (His version of Lisa Loeb’s “Stay” is actually the best thing in the film.)

      When Lou gets shot at his mansion, Nick and Lou’s son Jacob (Clark Duke) drag him to the hot tub and try to go back in time to prevent his murder. But they end up in 2025 instead, which is somehow where the murderer came from. It’s a concept so strained and suspenseless, it makes you long for Glover’s missing arm gag again. Plus future-tech jokes wear thin fast.

      Parks and Recreation’s Adam Scott subs in as Cusack’s son Adam Jr., a dweeb about to marry an equally dweeby Gillian Jacobs. As the plot grinds on, there’s time for Adam Jr. to loosen up, for Jacob to find a girlfriend and for Nick and Lou to realize important things about family and stuff. There isn’t one decent female character like the one played in the original by Lizzy Caplan, though.

      But there are a lot of dick jokes. So, so many dick jokes. All of them limp.

      Comments

      2 Comments

      And this is why...

      Feb 20, 2015 at 1:37pm

      These types of movies are meant to be downloaded ;)

      Hermione Danger

      Feb 24, 2015 at 5:19pm

      Worse than the lack of Cusack is the absence of his young doppelganger, local thespian Jake Rose.