There were certainly some laugh-out-loud gags, and fun cameo/supporting cast choices (particularly the meta choice of Crispin Glover as a bitter bell hop), but for the most part: tired plot, tired homophobic and sexist humor and characterizations, and an utter lack of creativity in utilizing the time travel premise. And the most cloyingly conventional and predictable resolution ever. This movie gives us one gift: a prominent role for Clark Duke, who plays 20 year-old straight man to a bunch of sad-sack 40-somethings. I'll look forward to seeing his career develop.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) **½
There were certainly some laugh-out-loud gags, and fun cameo/supporting cast choices (particularly the meta choice of Crispin Glover as a bitter bell hop), but for the most part: tired plot, tired homophobic and sexist humor and characterizations, and an utter lack of creativity in utilizing the time travel premise. And the most cloyingly conventional and predictable resolution ever. This movie gives us one gift: a prominent role for Clark Duke, who plays 20 year-old straight man to a bunch of sad-sack 40-somethings. I'll look forward to seeing his career develop.
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I just watched this last night, thinking it would be at least a throw-away brand of fun, maybe not quite as high on the enjoyment scale as, say, Romy and Michelle, but perhaps at least equal to or only slightly less enjoyable than, say, Never Been Kissed. Oh, how wrong I was. So miz. And to top off the homophobia, sexism, bad writing, and horrid acting, most of the hair and clothing were anachronistic, looking much more like 1992 than 1986.
Word, friend. I can't understand why this movie got such good reviews. I get why it was popular with mass audiences, but it galls me that even the most esteemed and intelligent Roger Ebert gave it a three star review, making no mention of the homophobia and sexism, save to say that the women were in "strictly supportive roles."
Pop Matters gets it much better, but still doesn't really touch on the awful charaterizations of the women in the movie.
Ultimately, I wish it weren't such a given that dude comedies must occupy this space where humor= oppressive.
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