The 1980s was the decade that fashion sense forgot – seeing people sport a riotous explosion of lurid colours, bouffant hair and leg warmers.

Yet, for those who lived and loved through it, the era conjures warm and fuzzy memories.

Director Steve Pink basks in the glow of nostalgia with Hot Tub Time Machine, a raunchy buddy comedy that propels four 21st century men back to 1986 when MTV was in its infancy.

Forced to relive the past, the unwitting time travellers reluctantly repeat the same mistakes to prevent their actions negatively impacting on the future.

The youngest member of the quartet, a twenty-something video game obsessive, firmly grasps the situation: his mother will conceive him that very weekend and if anything prevents the happy event, he will vanish entirely.

‘I write Stargate fan fiction.

I know what I’m talking about!’ proclaims the geek.

If he says so.

Party guy Lou (Rob Corddry) attempts to commit suicide by choking down exhaust fumes in his garage, and childhood pals Adam (John Cusack) and Nick (Craig Robinson) rush to his hospital bedside.

The three men decide to return to the Kodiac Valley skiing resort which was the site of their greatest triumphs when they were teenagers.

Adam drags along techno-savvy nephew Jacob (Clark Duke) and the four men drive to the snow-laden mountains where the hotel is now in disrepair and bellhop Phil (Crispin Glover) is mysteriously missing an arm.

Thankfully the hot tub still works and after a night of heavy drinking under the stars, the drunkards wake to find that they have been sent back to the decade of Adam, Nick and Lou’s youth.

‘Must be some kinda…

hot tub time machine!’ decides Nick, staring into the camera, resisting the urge for a conspiratorial wink.

A mysterious pool guy (Chevy Chase) explains that the men must replay history then return to the hot tub at dawn.

However, they cannot resist subtly altering their destiny.

Hot Tub Time Machine is a cute dramatic conceit with lots of potential.

Alas, screenwriters Josh Heald, Sean Anders and John Morris fail to deliver on the promise, relying on obligatory gross-out moments such as Lou pulling out his catheter in hospital and splashing his pals with urine, or projectile vomiting over a hapless squirrel.

Characters are sketched thinly and we have to take the various romances on trust because there is no evidence of the men falling in love on screen.

Obvious modern pop culture references (‘Hey Tiger, don’t text those girls!’) merit little more than a begrudging smile.

Cusack, who was a pin-up in the 1980s, has aged since those glory days and he is lifeless next to Corddry’s foul-mouthed character.

The soundtrack bops to classics including (I Just) Died In Your Arms by Cutting Crew, Safety Dance by Men Without Hats, Push It by Salt-N-Pepa and True by Spandau Ballet.

Now THAT’s what I call music.

• Release Date: Friday 7 May 2010
• Certificate: 15
• Runtime: 99mins

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