The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915

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The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915

The Daily Campus

The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915

The Daily Campus

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Melanie Jackson, Copyeditor • March 28, 2024
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Hot Tub Time Machine sequel has little to offer

Hot Tub Time Machine sequel has little to offer

By Riley Coven

With so many sequels being released in recent years, the bar for quality has dropped significantly. There are so many movies that were great as an original and then ruined by their unnecessary successor.

The most recent in this line of filmmaking was Steve Pink’s “Hot Tub Time Machine 2.” While the first wasn’t exactly a revelation in the art of cinema, it was still enjoyable and had some genuine heartfelt moments as well as some hilarious laughs. Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said for the sequel.

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Courtesy of movieweb.com

While the crude humor of the movie appeals to certain audiences, admittedly myself included, it wasn’t enough to save it from being a flat and uninteresting story with little to offer.

The actual plot line was very vague and seemed to just move the characters from one attempted funny situation to the next. As I said, I typically find this style of humor engaging, but there were too many moments of unnecessary shock value jokes that it just didn’t land.

With that being said, the improvisational technique by leads Craig Robinson and Rob Corddry was entertaining to watch when they were allowed to work the scenes themselves. The moments in the movie where you could tell they were just having fun and cracking jokes together were the highlights of the movie by far. Some of the one-liners they had were genuinely funny and had the entire theater cracking up.

Unfortunately that’s not enough to sustain a feature length movie and as soon as those moments ended, we were back to the scripted gross out humor that didn’t really do anything for most of the audience.

It’s also a little disconcerting that the film was missing John Cusack, the lead from the first film, and that he was mentioned very minimally. The writers attempted a few lines of dialogue to explain his absence but replaced him with Adam Scott, who admirably did his best with what little he had to work with, but was ultimately an odd and unwelcome transition.

Similarly, Chevy Chase, who was a fairly main character in the first film, made one appearance in the second and was never mentioned again. The sudden moment wasn’t even so much a cameo as it was an unnecessary clip in the movie so they could add his name to the credits. In my opinion, the money spent there probably could have gone to better use. Hopefully they get it right next time, and with these movies, there’s always a next time.

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