The movie is about three friends, Adam (John Cusack), Nick (Craig Robinson, The Office) and Lou (Rob Corddry) who have grown apart over the years. Adam has become so focused in his work that his girlfriend has left him, Nick's promising musical career has ended and now he works at a dog beauty parlor, while Lou is a drunk who has just been placed in a hospital when he found himself in a running car in a closed garage. Seeing Lou's apparent suicide attempt as a call for help, the trio, along with Adam's nephew, Jacob (Clark Duke), travel to one of their old haunts, the ski resort known as Kodiak Valley. While it's obvious the place has changed since their visit some twenty years ago, the older friends are determined to make a good time of it all. Little do they know that Lou's imported energy drink, Chernobly, and their room's unusual hot tub do not mix well, and when the swirling light show stops, all four characters find themselves in 1986.
To make things interesting, they are actually inhabiting their younger bodies, well, all except Jacob who isn't supposed to be born for nine months... and oh yeah, his mother, Adam's sister, is at Kodiak Valley as well. Jacob's knowledge of sci-fi films and TV series comes in handy as he tries to tell the others not to mess with anything in the past. For the most part, he fears his own non-existence, and while the other three try their damnedest not to change events of the past ... there are plenty of things they wish would be different.
Adam remembers that he broke up with a hot co-ed during this trip to Kodiak Valley, but doesn't remember why. He sees Jennie (Lyndsey Fonseca) as the best girl in his life, and struggles over breaking up with her. Nick remembers performing at the ski lodge, but this bad performance is the one that sent his life spiraling away from his music career, while Lou ended up in a fight with a ski patrol bully named Blaine (Sebastain Stan) and when his friends didn't show up to help him out, he was at the wrong end of a 6 versus 1 brawl. It seems that despite their attempts to keep on the straight and narrow though, their desires get the better of them and each starts doing what he thinks will benefit him the most in the future ... present ... whatever.
Anyway, the film is filled with nods to the 80's, everything from an appearance by William Zabka (Johnny from The Karate Kid) to numerous references to Back to the Future. The least of these references is Crispin Glover (who played George McFly in the classic film) as the one-armed bell hop. Outside of those references, there are nods to Cusack's own film, Better Off Dead, A Christmas Story, and the general fashion of the time. This film just screams must-see for anyone who remembers the 80's.
Now comes the tough part. While the Blu-ray version comes packaged with both theatrical and unrated versions of the film, the added few minutes don't really add anything to the film, but it does include a Digital copy. Unfortunately, any other benefits over the DVD version are non-existent. Well, the film looks and sounds better, but it isn't necessary for a film like this. What extra features it has include a bunch of deleted scenes and the theatrical trailers. What's bad, though, is that the box claims there are quite a few others including something about Crispin Glover, outfits used in the film, a featurette called "Production: Acting Like Idiots" and another featurette focusing on the hot tub's mechanic, Chevy Chase. I spent quite a bit time rummaging around through the Blu-ray's menu system and no matter where I went, all I could find were the trailers and the ability to switch between the two versions of the film. I have some mixed feelings about this. I really enjoyed the movie, and recommend it to a lot of people, but if the film isn't a special effects bonanza, then I tend to recommend the Blu-ray version over the DVD one only if the special features warrant the increased price. The box claims several features over the DVD, but none of them are actually there.
While Hot Tub Time Machine might not be a must-own film, it is definitely worth a rental. Younger viewers probably won't get most of the references, but the overall concept should be fun enough to amuse most of them; their parents, on the other hand, are sure to find it a wonderful treat. Unless I'm missing something though, you might as well look into renting the DVD version since there isn't much of a benefit to the Blu-ray package.
