Hot Tub Time Machine

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
"It must be some kind of... hot tub time machine ." *stares intently at viewers*
Nick Webber-Agnew

A 2010 film directed by Steve Pink (the guy who did Accepted). Three friends (Adam, Lou and Nick), and Adam's nephew Jacob take a trip to a ski resort where Adam, Lou and Nick used to hang out to relive good times after Lou attempts suicide. However, while getting drunk in a hot tub, Lou spills some Chernobly (a type of Russian Red Bull) onto the hot tub controls, turning it into a time machine. The hot tub sends the four back to 1986, where Adam, Lou and Nick have regained their youth and replaced their 1986 selves. (Jacob, for some reason, is not a zygote. This goes unexplained, though he occasionally goes static like a television image with poor reception.)

A hot-tub repairman (played by Chevy Chase), who may or may not be Mr. Exposition, occasionally drops by to have Cryptic Conversations about how to return to 2010 and the consequences of changing the past. This, however, doesn't stop the three from trying, much to the dismay of Jacob, who feels that their actions may put his very existence in jeopardy via the Butterfly Effect.

The last film to be distributed by MGM before its bankruptcy and reorganization as a pure producer and co-funder.


Tropes used in Hot Tub Time Machine include:
  • Actor Allusion: One scene features the line: "I want my two dollars!" which is a reference to Better Off Dead, one of Cusack's earliest films (which also took place at a ski resort). Also on seeing all the drugs in Adam's suitcase, Jacob says "What are you, Hunter S. Thompson?" to which Adam replies, "I thought I was." John Cusack was close friends with Thompson, and attended his funeral. On a more meta note, Cusack had also campaigned for the role of the Thompson equivilant in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, a role that eventually went to Johnny Depp.
  • Almighty Janitor: Ok, Almighty Hot Tub Repairman.
  • Analogy Backfire:

Adam: By the way, where does it say in the fucking Friendship Handbook that you are the only one who's allowed any fucking problems?
Lou: I forgot that it says in the Asshole Handbook that you can just fuck over your friends whenever you want!
Adam: Actually, it would say that in the Asshole Handbook if it was, like, guidelines for being an asshole, that's what it would say.

Nick: You know how every group of friends has that one asshole? He's our asshole.

Nick: Somethin's goin' on in here. Dude is rockin' a cassette player. !

  • The Slow Path: Lou stays behind in the past to become rich and make sure that the events of this weekend propelled them into a Better Future. He suffers no ill effects because it is Mental Time Travel
  • Time Travelers Are Spies: One of the medics at the ski resort believes the main characters are Russian spies.
  • Time Travel for Fun and Profit: Lou, big time. To a lesser extent, all the time travelers, although they were not aware until they came back.
  • Timey-Wimey Ball: The hot tub causes a Mental Time Travel effect for Lou, Adam and Nick, but physically transports Jacob into the past.
  • Title Drop: So obvious it's Anvilicious.
  • Trailers Always Spoil: Depending on which trailer you saw, one of them shows Violator aboard the huge yacht he bought himself after inventing Lougle, therefore spoiling the fact that he stays in the past. Nice.
    • Another trailer showed Jacob seeing his mother in 1986, and then shows her in bed with Lou saying "I feel pregnant."
  • Vomit Indiscretion Shot: A particularly nasty one. For extra credit bonus points, it hits a squirrel.
  • What Year Is This? = What color is Michael Jackson?
  • Wild Mass Guessing: See the Time Lord category for details (one of the few of these that isn't incredibly contrived).
    • To be fair, Blaine isn't the brightest bulb on the tree, and a Deleted Scene has a skier tell Jacob that she's "never seen a real snowboard up close before."