Nick Rieth, Zach Watson and Casey Picillo are telecommunications majors and write “Tangents” for the Daily News. Their views and opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily News. Write to them at zhwatson@bsu.edu. Listen to their radio show from 7 to 8 p.m. Sundays on WCRD.
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Exploring the concept of time travel is certainly not uncharted territory in the world of cinema. As timeless as this plot device is, comedy sequels falling flat trump it by two-fold. “Hot Tub Time Machine 2” certainly keeps that clock a’ticking.
The second installment of “Hot Tub Time Machine” reunites us with our three protagonists, Lou, Nick and Jacob (Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson and Clark Duke), who first introduced us to their hot tub that doubles as a time machine.
The fake lives they’ve created for themselves while traveling back in time during the first installment are beginning to fall flat. Lou has no idea how to run his wildly successful, completely-stolen “Lougle” internet search website, Nick’s career as a recording artist is on the decline and Jacob is fed up working under his father for the Lougle business.
The paper-thin plot begins when Lou is shot in a very unfortunate area and killed at his own business gala, and Nick and Jacob decide to fire up their hot tub to try and stop the killer. However, the hot tub takes them into the future instead, and the group’s adventures begin.
While the premise for the film was funny, the execution was not. We found it to be less of a hot tub full of laughs and more of a tepid bath containing a handful of chuckles.
Most of these chuckles were elicited by the talented cast of comedians (Corddry, Robinson, Duke and Adam Scott) who played the film’s four main characters. The comedic chemistry they brought to the set was well-translated on the screen. The scenes in which they were likely improvising their lines and riffing on the spot made for some of the best parts of the movie. Scott, in particular, played one of the most entertaining characters, as a friendless, eager-to-please, cliché white guy from the future, and had some of our favorite lines in the film.
On the other hand, the bigger and more planned jokes throughout the film tended to depend on vulgarity and shock value, a cheap and immature way to try to get a laugh. We found ourselves chuckling at the quick, witty side quips between the characters much more than the actual plot.
With a forgettable and immature plot and very unimaginative execution of the film, our overall review of this film is unfavorable. However, the great one-liners and witty cast give the film its redeeming points.
We had hoped to be bubbling over with laughs, but instead we simmered with mild amusement, often just below the surface. While it wasn’t a complete waste of our time, we won’t be traveling back anytime soon to watch it again.
Rating: 4/10
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