Grown Ups
Directed By: Dennis Dugan
Written By: Adam Sandler and Fred Wolf
Starring: Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, David Spade, Rob Schneider and Kevin James
Hot Tub Time Machine
Directed By: Steve Pink
Written By: Josh Heald, Sean Anders and John Morris
Starring: John Cusack, Clarke Duke, Craig Robinson and Rob Corddry
Grown Ups and Hot Tub Time Machine, two comedy films that on the surface seem completely different but are actually very similar. This review will evaluate both films as well as comparing and contrasting them.
Grown Ups starring Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, David Spade, Kevin James and Rob Schneider centers on 5 old school friends who come together with their families for one weekend to remember the death of their former basketball coach. Basically it’s a comedy film where you watch other people having a fun time but sadly the feeling isn’t mutual. Grown Ups main theme is a bunch of middle-aged men disillusioned with their lives reuniting to rejoice in their childhood fun while trying to sort out their families along the way. With a cast, which contains some great comic talent the ingredients are there for a great comedy film, however it misses the mark.
Hot Tub Time Machine is also a film where a bunch of middle aged men disillusioned with life get together for one weekend of fun and rejoicing in their childhood. Except they travel back in time to the 80s via, you guessed it a hot tub. The premise of HTTM is incredibly silly and it plays like a mix of Back To The Future and The Hangover but sadly does not contain the charm or laughs of either of those two films. It stars John Cusack and Clarke Duke (playing the teenage representative) and while the cast may not be brimming with as much comic talent as Grown Ups it is significantly funnier.
Why isn’t Grown Ups that funny? Well its predictable, cheesy, clichéd, stupid and self indulgent but still oddly enjoyable and watchable in parts mainly down to its likeable cast just about carrying it through. The humour and the plot doesn’t take much of a brain to predict and it isn’t exactly what you would call smart or subtle. The film mainly seems like an excuse for a bunch of comedy stars to enjoy each others company and a camera just happens to be there.
Hot Tub Time Machine on the other hand while also very stupid is a little bit more knowing of this fact and plays it for laughs and succeeds. Clarke Duke is the best out of a cast who raise more chuckles than the comedy vets of Grown Ups. Hot Tub Time Machine manages to be much more witty and enjoyable than Grown Ups with it containing much more laugh out loud moments (not hard when Grown Ups had about zero of them) and is probably the best comedy film of this year (not hard when the competition is the ill disciplined, missed opportunity that was Get Him To The Greek and the self indulgent Grown Ups)
However Hot Tub Time machine while hilarious in parts and brimming with great performances is not without its faults, faults that bring down the film from being good to just ok. Hot Tub Time Machine suffers from what a lot of recent comedies suffer from…it takes itself a little to serious when it comes to awkwardly crow baring in an unneeded love story. Too many comedy films start of witty, funny, rude and fun. Then once we get into the second act reach a dry spell where laughs are few and rather awkward attempts at putting in drama and life lessons fill the screen. A film called Hot Tub Time Machine like its title should be fun and ridiculous throughout. The writers just seemed to forget what film they were making come the second half. I have nothing against emotional depth and life lessons but when it’s poorly done and out of sync with the rest of the film, then it shouldn’t be there.
While Grown Ups is far from a disaster and you could do much worse it never reaches the absolute comic heights you know it should and could. Hot Tub Time Machine is the comedy of the year so far, with some great jokes, characters and performances but a messy and slightly misguided second act pull the film down.
Overall comedy films in 2010 haven’t been great, but if you want to see a comedy film that will give you laughs, is rather short, has some fun moments and knows how silly it really is…for the most part then check out Hot Tub Time Machine. However if it remains the best comedy film of 2010 then it’s been a pretty bad year for the genre.
Grown Ups One Sentence Summary: Good cast but ultimately predictable and self indulgent.
Hot Tub Time Machine: One half of a fun buddy time travel comedy, one half of a forced love story and message.
Grown Ups 5/10
Hot Tub Time Machine 6/10
By Michael Dalton
Grown Ups starring Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, David Spade, Kevin James and Rob Schneider centers on 5 old school friends who come together with their families for one weekend to remember the death of their former basketball coach. Basically it’s a comedy film where you watch other people having a fun time but sadly the feeling isn’t mutual. Grown Ups main theme is a bunch of middle-aged men disillusioned with their lives reuniting to rejoice in their childhood fun while trying to sort out their families along the way. With a cast, which contains some great comic talent the ingredients are there for a great comedy film, however it misses the mark.
Hot Tub Time Machine is also a film where a bunch of middle aged men disillusioned with life get together for one weekend of fun and rejoicing in their childhood. Except they travel back in time to the 80s via, you guessed it a hot tub. The premise of HTTM is incredibly silly and it plays like a mix of Back To The Future and The Hangover but sadly does not contain the charm or laughs of either of those two films. It stars John Cusack and Clarke Duke (playing the teenage representative) and while the cast may not be brimming with as much comic talent as Grown Ups it is significantly funnier.
Why isn’t Grown Ups that funny? Well its predictable, cheesy, clichéd, stupid and self indulgent but still oddly enjoyable and watchable in parts mainly down to its likeable cast just about carrying it through. The humour and the plot doesn’t take much of a brain to predict and it isn’t exactly what you would call smart or subtle. The film mainly seems like an excuse for a bunch of comedy stars to enjoy each others company and a camera just happens to be there.
Hot Tub Time Machine on the other hand while also very stupid is a little bit more knowing of this fact and plays it for laughs and succeeds. Clarke Duke is the best out of a cast who raise more chuckles than the comedy vets of Grown Ups. Hot Tub Time Machine manages to be much more witty and enjoyable than Grown Ups with it containing much more laugh out loud moments (not hard when Grown Ups had about zero of them) and is probably the best comedy film of this year (not hard when the competition is the ill disciplined, missed opportunity that was Get Him To The Greek and the self indulgent Grown Ups)
However Hot Tub Time machine while hilarious in parts and brimming with great performances is not without its faults, faults that bring down the film from being good to just ok. Hot Tub Time Machine suffers from what a lot of recent comedies suffer from…it takes itself a little to serious when it comes to awkwardly crow baring in an unneeded love story. Too many comedy films start of witty, funny, rude and fun. Then once we get into the second act reach a dry spell where laughs are few and rather awkward attempts at putting in drama and life lessons fill the screen. A film called Hot Tub Time Machine like its title should be fun and ridiculous throughout. The writers just seemed to forget what film they were making come the second half. I have nothing against emotional depth and life lessons but when it’s poorly done and out of sync with the rest of the film, then it shouldn’t be there.
While Grown Ups is far from a disaster and you could do much worse it never reaches the absolute comic heights you know it should and could. Hot Tub Time Machine is the comedy of the year so far, with some great jokes, characters and performances but a messy and slightly misguided second act pull the film down.
Overall comedy films in 2010 haven’t been great, but if you want to see a comedy film that will give you laughs, is rather short, has some fun moments and knows how silly it really is…for the most part then check out Hot Tub Time Machine. However if it remains the best comedy film of 2010 then it’s been a pretty bad year for the genre.
Grown Ups One Sentence Summary: Good cast but ultimately predictable and self indulgent.
Hot Tub Time Machine: One half of a fun buddy time travel comedy, one half of a forced love story and message.
Grown Ups 5/10
Hot Tub Time Machine 6/10
By Michael Dalton
