Hot Tub Time Machine

Goolphipp Award: 3.25 (See the Cheap Matinee)

Goolsby:
I think I was a little too excited for this movie. John Cusack and Clarke Duke (who plays Dale on "Greek"), and I was hands down ready to see this movie. For some reason, I have no idea why, I thought they were going to go back in time to more than one decade. I guess I was channeling Bill and Ted memories. They only go back to one point in time, 1986. Bright colors, Alf, cell phones as big as shoes, and some of the best music on earth! Who doesn't have a crush on John Cusack?

Anyway, back to the movie. I thought it was overall a good movie. They included more 80's references than I could even count of keep track of. They owned the cheesiness and I appreciate that. I thought the cast was a good dynamic. Duke definitely helped round out the cast, well done Duke, well done. Cusack still has it, and I was glad to see him in this role, it seemed very fitting.

So a bad thing? Some parts just seemed unnecessary. Projectile vomit? More than once? Really? I think there were at least 3 puke scenes in this movie. Not needed in my opinion. The nudity is understandable I guess, given the target crowd for this movie. Talk about drug use though! Wow, that was a lot.

I liked the movie as a whole. My 80's thirst was quenched with a quick throw back to the Karate Kid - "Get him a body bag! Yea!" I doubt I'll own this movie, but it was a gooder.

Goolsby overall: 3.75
How could I forget! There is a long awaited moment in this movie. You literally are waiting for a guy to lose his arm the whole time. Classic.

Phipps:
I laughed with this movie. I do like the premise. It was like a mash-up of a bunch of different movies from the 80s. Heck, even Red Dawn was paid homage.

I think they went to a lot of trouble to make sure everything was authentic, and it showed. I appreciated that. The movie was super colorful. (Haha.) I also really enjoyed that these older guys were inhabiting their younger bodies, which eliminated the need to sneak around avoiding themselves.

My main complaint, as always with mainstream comedies, is the unnecessary raunchy moments (and/or projectile vomit). I think this movie could have been a classic if they would have cleaned it up a bit. Less sex (and certainly no nudity), less language, and less drug-use. What's left? You still get to make fun of the 80s. You still get four losers going back in time and learning some stuff. I also felt like making an energy drink based on Chernobyl was a little sick. It goes over the target audiences' heads, because we were all a little too young to remember. Goolsby didn't have a clue about it, and I only knew about it because I have friends how work in environmental science. Overall, I felt that the plot had potential, but dropped the ball with all the crap. If you don't have a problem with these things, you will probably really like this movie. Like I said, there's a good framework.

One more thing, this movie has the perfect cast for the plot.

Question: do these guys have both sets of memories from the two time lines? (Movies about time travel seriously mess with my head.)

Phipps overall: 2.75
Bummer. Good idea tarnished by lame sex and language.