I would assume that you have some working knowledge to the first Hot Tub Time Machine prior to seeing the sequel, but just to be complete here's a recap. Three friends and a nephew that are disillusioned with the state of their lives travel to their old stomping grounds at a ski-lodge to relive their glory days. Finding it sadly in a slow state of ruin, they ultimately get blackout drunk in a hot tub and inadvertently travel through time to 1986 after spilling some Macguffin device called 'chernobly' onto the controls accidentally.
HTTM2 picks up shortly after the present day events of the first movie, although Lou (Rob Corddry) has stayed behind in the past. Despite all the characters more or less changing their lives for the better through the first time travel adventure, Lou capitalizes on his knowledge of the future to make himself exceedingly wealthy, founding 'Lougle' instead of Google, and by being the lead singer of Motley Crue.
When Lou is shot and killed at one of his parties by an unknown murderer, Nick (Craig Robinson) and Jacob (Clark Duke) must make use of the hot tub time machine again to try and save Lou's life by again traveling to the past to right wrongs. Since their method of time travel is precarious at best and requires heavy drinking (we assume), they accidentally travel 10 years into the future. Basically they are left with trying to solve Lou's murder while at the same time exploring the ridiculousness of the not-to-distant future.
Notably missing from the film is John Cusack who played Adam in the first film, though Nick, Lou (who is in limbo) and Jacob run across Adam's son Adam Jr. (Adam Scott). Chevy Chase also briefly reprises his role as the mystical lodge maintenance man from the first movie who may or may not hold the secret of time travel.
Like the majority of modern comedies, Hot Tub Time Machine 2 exists solely to capitalize on the success of the first movie. Its reminiscent of the Hangover movies, Horrible Bosses, etc. A lot of the jokes are rehashed, there are a lot of callbacks to the first movie, pop culture references - you know, the usual in this type of raunchy comedy. It's basically the same as the first movie, albeit slightly less funny and with a more convoluted time travel premise.
Shamelessly I laughed quite a bit in this movie as I did with the first one. Probably not a comedy for grandma, but there are a lot of solid laughs evenly spread through the movie. There's some vulgarity, some scenes you probably will wish you could forget, and of course lots of shenanigans.
If you liked the first movie, you'll almost certainly like the sequel as it has all the same comedic chemistry felt in the first one. Corddry and Robinson never miss a beat and the addition of Adam Scott (in place of Cusack) is not obtrusive. There are some forced laughs and it's not quite up to par with the first one, but you should still at least enjoy it.
Read the full review and others like it on the Drive-in Zeppelin Website
