Off-beat 'Hot Tub Time Machine' clever and funny

Director: Steve Pink

Cast: John Cusack, Clark Duke, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson

Maybe you had to live during the 1980s to fully appreciate the many references to and in-jokes about the era but the playing of an excellent cast and the strength of the writing makes this observant and funny – and off-beat – time-travel film well worth watching.

Adam, Lou and Nick (Cusask, Corddry and Robinson) are bored with their present-day lives and with the younger Jacob (Duke) head to the location of their youth.

There they come across a strange time machine in the form of a hot tub that transports them back in time to the 80s.

What happens when they get there and what they must do to return to today makes for a clever and funny film that touches on lost opportunities and coming to terms with the way life has turned out.

Star Rating: 4/5