Hot Tub Time Machine
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: March 26, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
63
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
13
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The movie itself is a nonstop barrage -- somewhere between a riot and an orgy -- of crude, obnoxious gags and riffs. If you are a connoisseur of sexual, scatological or just plain stupid humor, you will find your appetite satisfied, even glutted. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
About a billion laughs (though "Hot Tub" is not for the faint of heart or anyone even slightly concerned with what's happened to common decency these days). Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Accomplishes what "Snakes on a Plane" did not: It offers a merrily idiotic movie to go with its willfully idiotic title. Read full review
88
PremiereJordan Burchette
Why John Cusack stopped doing this kind of movie remains one of the late-20th century’s great mysteries. Teaming him with contemporary comic vanguards Corrdry and Robinson is equal parts welcome and unexpected as the three relive the social, sexual, and Soviet fears of the era. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
The movie's as casual as its lead characters' approach to changing history; it's also lewdly and frequently laugh-out-loud hilarious -- especially if you wasted any of your youth watching a certain brand of '80s comedy schlock on HBO at 2 a.m. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
In Rob Corddry's hilariously manic turn, it has the most memorable showcase for a goofball co-star since Michael Keaton in 1981's "Night Shift." Read full review
80
TimeMary Pols
The movie made me laugh as much as anything since "The Hangover" or the love scenes in "Avatar." Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
With sharp riffs on the intersection of '80s pop culture (ALF, Kid 'N Play, Ronald Reagan!) and 21st-century culture (Twitter, Viagra, Second Life!), this Time Machine is a fun dip into a pool of memories that are best forgotten again once the booze wears off. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Succeeds beyond any expectations suggested by the title and extends John Cusack's remarkable run: Since 1983, in 55 films, he's never made a bad one. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
The raunchy, guy-centric comedy Hot Tub Time Machine makes a vertiginously high-concept bid to be this year's version of "The Hangover" and darned if it doesn't succeed. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
A raunchy, endearing and often hilarious cross between “Back to the Future” and Reagan-era cheese-fests such as “Hot Dog: The Movie.” Read full review
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
But lowbrow or not, it is, like, totally tubular in its own right. To the max. Fer sure. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorAndy Klein
Has there been a more upfront title since “Snakes on a Plane”? Read full review
70
Village VoiceDan Kois
A fundamentally lazy comedy that will probably make you laugh like an idiot. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill Goodykoontz
It is a question that has vexed lovers of fine cinema for years: What if you made a teen sex comedy with grown-ups? And now, thanks to Hot Tub Time Machine, we have our answer: It would be pretty cool. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
At its best the film is blissfully, anarchically funny, and director Steve Pink keeps the pace crackling. Read full review
70
NPRIan Buckwalter
Admirably turns a potentially one-note joke into a consistently funny package. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
A lunatic cast energizes this comic fantasy. Read full review
63
Orlando SentinelRoger Moore
A sloppy, raucous, time travel farce in the grown-men-gone-wild "Hangover" style, it’s a surprisingly satisfying, if not exactly LMAO, riot. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
If time and space hooked up and got so hammered that they staggered beyond inebriation into delirium, the result would be Hot Tub Time Machine. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Depressingly, and in keeping with the stringent rules of bad-boy shock-comedies, all the women here are bimbos, shrews, and slutburgers except for one cool chick -- Cusack’s love interest, played by Lizzy Caplan -- who acts like a guy. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Hot Tub Time Machine should have been better than this. It could have been poignant. Read full review
60
Time OutDavid Fear
Like the "Scream" series, Hot Tub Time Machine is a cake-and-eat-it-too experience; you get both a vintage Brat Pack comedy, albeit one regrettably drenched in post-Hangover raunch, and an ongoing metacommentary at the same time. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Engaging enough, but its characters’ path to redemption would be more satisfying if it weren’t greased with authentically ’80s-style casual sexism, gay panic, and frat-comedy clichés. Read full review
50
VarietyDennis Harvey
Even by recent standards for mainstream comedy packaging, "Tub" looks dull and ugly. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
A loud, disjointed and not terribly funny comedy, which probably is what one expects with a title like that. The unfortunate thing is, it didn't need to be. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
Hot Tub Time Machine isn't a good movie, but like a bubbling bath it keeps pounding at us until our resistance wears down. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
A lot of what's intended to be funny falls flat, in part because it's too obvious and in part because director Steve Pink is clumsy when it comes to comedic timing. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Cannot sustain the level of comic insanity the filmmakers hoped for -- no movie could -- although it's bound to play much better on late-night cable TV, especially when accompanied by a few beers and the occasional bong hit. Read full review
50
SlateDana Stevens
The title is so genius! My standards were so low! All this movie needed to make me laugh were four guys in a Jacuzzi, a fuchsia/turquoise color palette, a steady stream of dumb jokes, and a little bit of heart. Unfortunately, the missing ingredient is the last. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleAmy Biancolli
Most of its screenplay is far too vulgar to recount. To paraphrase Mary McCarthy, every word is an obscenity, including "and" and "the." Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
For hilarity, characterization and clever structure, "The Hangover" is far superior. Still, there are some laughs in this uneven but good-natured raunchfest. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Funnier than any movie called Hot Tub Time Machine has a right to be. And how funny is that? Not very, but a little, occasionally – just enough. Read full review
40
Boxoffice MagazineMark Keizer
One of Hot Tub Time Machine’s only genuinely nifty moves is getting John Cusack, Dobler himself, to topline the film. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
How bad must a movie be to be good fun? How dumb to be smart? (Or, in the case of "Dumb and Dumber," how pretend-dumb to be surpassingly smart?) Whatever the case, Hot Tub Time Machine doesn't make the cut. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Consider this yet another nail in the Eighties coffin. Read full review
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