MOVIE REVIEW - Hot Tub Time Machine 2

Sometimes sequels are a good idea. Most times they are not. Then there is Hot Tub Time Machine 2, which is now the mother of all bad sequel ideas.

When the original came out in 2010, and it was a surprise hit.  A guilty pleasure that battled a stupid name, and an outrageous idea, a ridiculous premise and a bunch of eye rolls during the previews and somehow found an audience and gave us all a few laughs.  Fine. Well done.  But let's not go back to the same tub again 5 years later with part of the original cast and do this all again. 

This picks up where the original left off.  These goofy guys found this hot tub that was capable of time travel, and it ended up changing all of their lives.  OK, I'm good with that. But here, this is simply an excuse for movie makers to make a movie that totally targets 17 year old boys with humor they can't resist.  This movie is like a poster child for juvenile, bathroom humor from start to finish. 

I'm not even going into the plot line because in essence, there is none.   This is just one cliche' after another, and one more locker room humor scene after another, sprinkled in the middle of heavy drinking and recreational drug usage.  This has an R rating, and well deserved with its F-word heavy language and repeated nasty gags.   Look, don't get me wrong, all of this can be tolerated in smaller dosages and be funny. But this is simply dumb, and directionless.  And it is set up for more to come.

It is a pity when sometimes a funny, surprise concept that was lucky once, is resurrected badly in a sequel and ends up tarnishing the original. But that is what Hollywood does.  They are out of original ideas and dig up ones from the past and attempt to catch lightning in a bottle again. But is seldom works.  That's why it's called lightning in a bottle.  It's hard to do and it's rare.

Hot Tub Time Machine 2.  Bad idea. Netflix in 90 days -  if you must.