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Hot Tub Time Machine

Hot Tub Time Machine

Science Fiction · Comedy · Adventure · 2010

Four pals are stuck in a rut in adulthood: Adam has just been dumped, Lou is a hopeless party animal, Nick is a henpecked husband, and Jacob does nothing but play video games in his basement. But they get a chance to brighten their future by changing their past after a night of heavy drinking in a ski-resort hot tub results in their waking up in 1986.

Movie details

Hot Tub Time Machine

“Forget the present. Change the future. Kick some past.”

2010 Science Fiction · Comedy · Adventure 1h 41m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.0 / 10

Community rating

Four pals are stuck in a rut in adulthood: Adam has just been dumped, Lou is a hopeless party animal, Nick is a henpecked husband, and Jacob does nothing but play video games in his basement. But they get a chance to brighten their future by changing their past after a night of heavy drinking in a ski-resort hot tub results in their waking up in 1986.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Hot Tub Time Machine?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Amazon Women on the Moon

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Big Trouble in Little China

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Steve Pink

Written by

Josh Heald · John Morris · Sean Anders

John Cusack

John Cusack

Adam

Craig Robinson

Craig Robinson

Nick

Rob Corddry

Rob Corddry

Lou

Clark Duke

Clark Duke

Jacob

Sebastian Stan

Sebastian Stan

Blaine

Chevy Chase

Chevy Chase

Repairman

Crispin Glover

Crispin Glover

Phil

Court is in session

Put Hot Tub Time Machine on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Adrenaline Seeker

“It owes the canon nothing.”

The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.

The prosecution The Auteur Devotee

“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”

It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.