Hot Tub Time Machine 2 DVD - Comedy Movie for Relaxation & Entertainment - Perfect for Movie Nights and Gifts

I enjoyed "Hot Tub Time Machine" way more than I thought I would. I love time travel stories, and thought HTTM was a unique twist on the usual trope. I went into "Hot Tub Time Machine 2" hoping it would at least give me more of the same. It did, sort of. It gave me more of what I didn't like in the last movie, and less of what I did.I thought the beginning of the movie had promise, showing two guys fully exploiting their knowledge of the future for personal gain. Lou and Nick have become rich, Lou by inventing Google (now called "Lougle") and Nick by performing hit songs before their creators could.But all is not well. Lou has created a decadent monstrosity of a life with a bad wig, a boardroom where he encourages men outside to flash the female executives, and a huge painting in his house of himself doing obscene things to a tiger. He's driven his company into the ground because he has no original ideas of his own.Nick is frustrated with the fact that he can't create any hit songs of his own. He's also having a crisis of conscience over the work he's stealing. There was one great moment where Lisa Loeb tells Nick how much she loved his song (originally her song) "Stay" so much that it felt "violating."And Jacob isn't dealing well with the knowledge that Lou is his father, because, well, Lou is a monster.When Lou gets fatally shot (in the groin, of course), the three of them try to go back in time to save him. But the hot tub time machine sends them forward in time, not backwards. They end up ten years in the future, where they realize that Lou's killer is from, so they have to find the killer in the future to save him in the past. Wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff. Really, it's just an excuse to goof around in the future.I thought the world was way too advanced for a decade in the future with holograms and artificially intelligent cars. But that's a minor point. The biggest problem is everything else.John Cusack chose not to do the sequel, which was one of the smartest decisions he's made since he agreed to do the original "Hot Tub Time Machine." But the lack of John Cusack really hamstrung this movie. HTTM2 made me wonder why I wanted to spend time with these guys in the last movie. Lou is an amoral sociopath who cheerfully destroys the lives of everyone around him. Nick was kind of a sad sack in the last movie, but has become more of a jerk in this one. Jacob is the same nerdy loser from the last one, but is also really arrogant. None of them are pleasant people, and they're all cruel to each other in ways that go beyond the good-natured ribbing in the last one.It was only on retrospect that I realized Cusack was vital for the success of the last movie. He served as the regular guy, the center and leader of the troop of misfits from HTTM. Without him, the group descended into misery. Adam Scott was cast as his son to replace him, but doesn't work. He's a bright-eyed innocent who wears skirts and is just waiting to be made fun of. He doesn't provide the core that Cusack gave the cast, just another person to mock.There's a scene in this movie which I felt overshadowed everything and also typified everything wrong with this movie. At one point, they go on a TV show called "Choosey Doosey," where Nick is forced to choose to do things based on audience suggestions. Lou being Lou, he suggests Nick have sex with a man. But he doesn't count on the show's rules, where the chooser will be the one who has to do it, and is dragged on stage to be the recipient. We then see the two forced into virtual reality suits, electrocuted to ensure compliance, and the deed is done.I spent a lot of time wondering why they put that scene in. I can only imagine the writers were thinking of the scene in HTTM where Lou bets a guy he'll give oral to Nick if he loses, and then loses. But what made that scene funny was that it went right up to the point where it was going to happen, and then Nick passed out. There's nothing actually funny about rape, which is what the Choosey Doosey scene boils down to. This whole movie has that kind of feel, like the writers weren't exactly sure what was funny about the last one, and just did the same thing less successfully.I can certainly see some people finding this movie funny or funnier than HTTM, but that's a small group who likes dark and offensive humor. I'm not that type. I enjoyed the first movie despite its mean-spirited tone, not because of it. HTTM was a surprisingly original and unique take on time travel with a few dumb and ugly jokes. HTTM2 is just a bunch of dumb and ugly jokes.Random Thoughts:-I did enjoy the "you're a nerd" song they kept breaking into to make fun of Jacob. I was delighted to see the full "OK Go" version.-The Nick Webber Shuffle was a hilariously bad and viral dance. I could totally see it catching on.