Hot Tub Time Machine 2

A real "shotgun to the dick"

Our story follows our cast from the first movie (minus John Cusack), going through their new lives as rich successes. Everyone hates Lou (Rob Courdry), Nick (Craig Robinson) has marital issues, while facing problems with stealing other artists music, and Jacob (Clark Duke) is a loser. Since Lou is so hated someone has taken it upon themselves to assassinate him, shooting him in the groin (got shot in the dick people). Jacob comes up with the idea of using the hot tub time machine to go back in time to save Lou; however, the time machine has other plans when it sends the trio a decade into the future. The plan for our "heroes" is to find Lou's killer (who happens to be from the future... I know try to stay with me, we'll get through this together), while doing what they did in the first movie (fixing the lives of their present selves).

Wow. Never thought it would be that hard to write a synopsis; but hey, with a story this bad and convoluted I guess it is bound to happen. So the main joke over this entire movie is that time travel movies are ridiculously complex in their story telling, and they can get a little lost in translation... at least I hope it is. It would be a great joke if it made me laugh at anytime, but every time I felt the joke coming I just couldn't muster a chuckle. It's not that the joke was bad, just poorly handled, and that is actually the problem with the rest of this picture. All of the jokes are recycled to death. Some jokes are at their own expense, which would be great if they didn't seem so forced.... and also recycled. It isn't like I didn't laugh, sometimes I managed a few chuckles, one time actually laughing quite hysterically; but, I know I would have been laughing more, had the jokes been delivered better. The first movie was pretty bearable, earning a place in my heart as "something to watch while I am drunk or bored." This movie is just bad. Their are a few saving graces, but I just got tired of being told the same joke, over and over again. How many times do I need to be reminded that John Cusack isn't there? How many times are you guys going to do "you look like" jokes (they tried to retract the amount by making fun of how many times they said it, but it was a bit late)? How many times are you going to make gross out jokes? It is all recycled. Even the ending, where they try to make fun of their "sequel status,' seems forced and dull. The moral is out of place and awkward. The pacing of this movie, got thrown out with the plot. This movie's one saving grace when it comes to writing is a few mildly amusing jokes, and that is about it.

As I said above the pacing of this movie was ridiculous, like they were just coming up with jokes and picking points where they "might work" in the movie. The director of the first movie took us back to this, and lost any semblance of good grace that I could have given him for the original. The audio was choppy and felt awkward to sit through. The cast seemed to be working on their own whims without any guidance of what they should be doing. It was kind of like the director said " hey guys just go and do the same thing as the first time, if you can remember what that was, I am going to take a nap." It was as lazy as the writing, and the director should feel ashamed.

The returning cast did the best they could given the captain-less ship, but you could tell something was a bit off in the production. Given the credibility I give these actors, I am only going to talk about  the new cast. The new cast seemed to try and ride the hype train of "Community" and "Parks and Recreation," to a box office worth mentioning. One half of that theory worked out, the other half.... not so much. Adam Scott does well in his co-staring role. He works as the same dorky guy he plays in his hit show, and the cast knows how to work off of him. Gillian Jacobs is seldom used, and I can see the reasoning for it. She drags down every performance around her. She is like a dark hole that sucks talent into an endless void, never to be seen again. This is a shame, since I don't mind her performance in "Community," but I calls it like I sees it. The only other noteworthy talent in this was the love interest Bianca Hease. I wish I could gauge her, but the only thing I ever notice is that her breasts seem to appear on the screen for some reason. She seems emotionless, at times; but, as I said, it is hard to gauge her performance on the small amount I saw of her.

Final Verdict: "Borrow" it I was hoping for a lot more from this movie, since the best comedies from last year were sequels. The problem is, those sequels were actually funny throughout the running time. If you need to see it, try seeing it for free.