HOT TUB TIME MACHINE MOVIE
HOT TUB TIME MACHINE SERIES

It’s mostly believable if you read this movie straight, but if you read it as a satire, it’s clear that this is meant to be an over-exaggeration of the “crappy job” setup. We’ve seen the aspiring X stuck in Y job setup so many times before that we’re primed to believe pretty much anything, but then Robinson reaches into a dog’s butt and pulls out a car key. Craig Robinson as Nick Webber-Agnou: he was once an aspiring singer, but now he’s stuck in a humiliating pet massage job.Let’s look at each of the main characters and their respective journeys towards wish-fulfillment: Virtually every element of Hot Tub Time Machine toes the line between pandering wish-fulfillment movie and deconstruction of a pandering wish fulfillment movie. This would be highly problematic if the movie were taking itself seriously, which, if you didn’t notice by the title, it definitely doesn’t do.

HOT TUB TIME MACHINE SERIES

Through a series of improbable events, they returned to their youthful “glory days,” correct past mistakes, and remake their lives into sexier, wealthier, happier new versions. The protagonists are all men in their 40’s living unfulfilling lives. Hot Tub Time Machine at first seems to be of the pandering type of wish-fulfillment movie. The former is pandering the latter is inspiring. When a lovable rat’s wish gets fulfilled in an uplifting Pixar movie, the audience gets the message that dedication to a dream and perseverance will win the day. When the schlumpy guy’s wish gets fulfilled in a lowbrow sex comedy, the audience gets the message that unrealistic male sexual fantasies and negative stereotypes in gender roles will win the day. The difference between a She’s Out Of My League and a Ratatouille lies in the subtle implications of their respective acts of wish-fulfillment. Suspension of disbelief: consider it stretched.), and of course, the fulfillment of the highly improbable wish. There’s the physically unattractive protagonist who’s wasting away at a low level job, the improbable plot devices that give him a big break (In case you forgot, the rat’s method of cooking involved pulling on a guy’s hair to control his limbs.

Think about Ratatouille: it’s wish fulfillment through and through it even shares a lot of the same plot elements of the slightly less critically acclaimed She’s Out Of My League. Rats smart enough to cook can only be found in the NYC subways, not Paris.Įxcept, not all the time.

Hot tub time machine