"Hot Tub Time Machine" looks like a crack up

With a strong comedic cast, Steve Pink’s “Hot Tub Time Machine” is looking to become a hit amongst its fans. Notable actors John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Chevy Chase, Rob Corddry and rising star Clark Duke add energy and excitement to the script.
“There was not a lot of holding it together on set but a lot of cracking up,” said Duke, who plays Jacob. “I liked shooting the film. It was fun, cold and magical.”
The screenplay follows a group of best friends, Adam (Cusack), who’s trying to find love, Lou (Corddry), an overage partier in need of life direction, Nick (Robinson), who’s stuck in a struggling marriage and Jacob (Duke), an antisocial video gamer, as they travel back in time to correct their unsuccessful lives. The four friends return to a ski resort to relive the good times spent at the lodge. After relationship troubles and personal hardships, the boys try to get away. But after heavy drinking, the guys find themselves waking up in the year 1986. The characters look in the mirror to find their wrinkles gone and the ‘80s trends back.
“I had the same haircut [in the ‘80s],”  Robinson said. “I was the same goofy stupid.”
The travel back in time was their chance to change their mistakes from the past and build a future they desired.
The cast’s memorable acting redeems the film from the script. “Hot Tub Time Machine” is a hybrid of “Seventeen Again” and “Pineapple Express.” The film is similar to “Seventeen Again” in that characters try to alter their future from the past; but contains the extreme humor of “Pineapple Express.” It has outrageously unrealistic moments where the audience can’t help but laugh. Ad libbing also added humor to the script.
“There was a lot of ad lib…we improved like crazy,” Robinson said. “One would start and then everyone would join in. We kept changing the pages until eventually we were like, ‘F*** the pages.’ ”
The Q&A after the movie screening allowed the audience to gain a better idea of what the energy was like on set. As Robinson and Clark joked around on stage, the fans laughed along with their crude humor. From questioners’ voices to their random questions, Robinson and Clark managed to build a joke from it all. It was a great way to build anticipation for the upcoming movie.
The film is light-hearted, entertaining and contained a lot of mature humor; however, the depth was fairly shallow. It doesn’t require intelligence but can still make you laugh.
“You should go see the film because there is something in it for everyone,” Robinson said, “and if you don’t like it, the person you came with will.”
“Hot Tub Time Machine” will be in theaters March 26.