‘Hot Tub 2’ is lukewarm, at best

By Roger Moore

Tribune News Service

John Cusack has been reduced to Z-grade action comedies, shot in Australia and co-starring Thomas Jane, at this stage of his career.

And he STILL turned down the payday that “Hot Tub Time Machine 2” promised, which tells you all you need to know about this half-baked sequel.

It’s just as well, as Cusack was basically the aging straight man in the first version of this stoner time travel comedy. Craig Robinson walked off with the picture, about three friends and a young guy who turns out to be the son of one of them, guys who travel back to a pivotal 1986 ski weekend from their past in what appears to be a hot tub electrical accident.

The sequel is dominated by Rob Corddry, a fearless funnyman best taken in tiny doses. The doses aren’t tiny enough and the laughs are few and far between this time in the tub.

Lou (Corddry) and Nick (Robinson) have used the time travel hindsight to “invent” Google (Lougle) and steal every pop song between 1986 and the present.

Jacob (Clark Duke), who found out Lou was his dad, just got bitter. He was the smart one, after all, the one who could keep track of the time travel “science.” He just failed to cash in.

Since Lou’s been shot and the guys want to foil that assassination attempt, they “need” to go back in time again. So naturally, they go into the future.

In 2025, Neil Patrick Harris is in the White House, Jessica Williams still hosts “The Daily Show” and Jacob is now the rich genius in charge of the Internet. They need to set things right by finding Lou’s assassin, but cocaine, booze, pills and a murderously smart Smart Car might get in the way. The “out there” stuff here includes full-frontal nudity, forced gay sex on TV and nose candy jokes.