Hot Tub Time Machine 2 Review Roundup: Did Critics Like the R-Rated Time-Travel Comedy Sequel?

The movie stars Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, Clark Duke and Adam Scott

By Corinne Heller Feb 20, 2015 4:17 PMTags

Hijinks ensue once more in Hot Tub Time Machine 2, in which the guys, having already tackled the '80s, travel to the future.

The sequel, which was released on Friday, almost five years after the original (and after being pushed back from a planned 2014 Christmas Day release), sees Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry and Clark Duke reprising their roles as Nick, Lou and Lou's son, Jacob.

In the R-rated sci-fi comedy, Nick is now famous because when they had time-traveled to 1986 in the first movie, he was busy releasing covers of then-unreleased hit songs (such as Lisa Loeb's 1995 ballad "Stay (I Missed You)"). Lou has also made a name for himself, as a self-proclaimed "Father of the Internet," because he had "exploited" his knowledge about technology for "personal financial gain" during their last adventure.

When he is shot in the groin by an unknown assailant, the trio attempt to go back in time again to try to stop the shooter and end up in the year 2025, concluding that the would-be killer is from the future...just like in Terminator. The movie also stars Parks and Recreation and Step Brothers star Adam Scott as the son of Adam, who John Cusack played in the first film. The latter star does not reprise his role.

The first Hot Tub Time Machine received mixed reviews and made more than $64 million worldwide, including at least $50 million domestically. Will Hot Tub Time Machine 2 sink or swim? Find out what these critics said about it.

1. The New York TimesStephen Holden wrote that the new movie is "vastly inferior" to the first film.

"Hot Tub Time Machine 2 is clever, but the absence of Adam (John Cusack), one of the original time travelers, is keenly felt," he said. "Mr. Cusack gave the first Hot Tub a poignant emotional core that is missing in the sequel. In both movies, the voice of caution and common sense belongs to Lou's nerdy son, Jacob (Clark Duke), who has become his butler."

2. The New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier gives Hot Tub Time Machine 2 zero out of five stars.

"The sequel takes everything that was good about the first film—a raunchy, though affectionate, take on how guys look back on the moment when their lives went south—and makes it seem accidental," he wrote. "Where we once had a knowing take on Gen X-ers, now we get a zillion penis jokes, idiotic puns, big gags that go nowhere and, most important, no John Cusack!"

"Witless, and unoriginal at every turn, HTTM2 makes me wish I could use the supernatural bathtub myself and kill this project before it got green-lighted," he added.

Paramount

3. A.V. Club'Ignatiy Vishnevetsky gives Hot Tub Time Machine 2 a C grade, adding that it's "watchable" but that "the jokes aren't as funny" as the ones in the original movie and also lamented the absence of Cusack.

"For the most part, Hot Tub Time Machine 2 is little more than a collection of shouted pop culture references and improvised insults, structured as a riff on Back To The Future Part II, complete with the preview-style clip-show ending," he wrote. "It never manages to pull together a gag as memorably demented as its predecessor's incessant foreshadowing about a certain character getting his arm chopped off, and its vision of a neat, neutered near-future isn't as fun to look at or listen to as the first movie's colorful wall-to-wall '80s kitsch and nostalgia-trip soundtrack."

4. ComingSoon.net's Edward Douglas gives the movie 3.5 out of 10 stars.

"None of the actors are bad, although it feels like all of them have done better work since the original Hot Tub Time Machine, and this seems like backtracking for most of them," he wrote. "I don't think I'd ever say these words in my entire life, but John Cusack is sorely missed in this sequel, because his character kept things grounded in ways that Scott just isn't capable of doing."

"With humor that makes Bill & Ted seem intelligent, this sequel is pretty much garbage," he added. "We had to wait five years for this?"

Paramount

5. CinemaBlend.com's Sean O'Connell gives the movie three out of five stars and jokes that "Hot Tub Time Machine 2 is the funniest movie we currently have that involves a hot tub capable of time travel."

"There are only two I'm aware of, at the moment," he added. "But this no-holds-barred—and unabashedly idiotic—sequel is an improvement over its uneven predecessor, and I'm now convinced a third sequel (and possibly more) could actually happen."

"Time Machine 2 works because the cast knows how to play off of each other well, and it's never afraid to be ridiculous because it knows it isn't shackled to a plot," he said, adding, "Deep down, you understand this isn't going to be a good movie. It is, however, a surreal and frequently hilarious movie that doesn't take full advantage of its time-travel potential, but replaces those missed opportunities with more than enough dick and drug jokes to have you looking forward to the next dip in the low-brow hot tub."