Film review: Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (15, 93 mins)

Once time travel crosses the rubicon from science fiction to scientific fact, I’m charting a course for the day that director Steve Pink first contemplated a sequel to his 2010 comedy Hot Tub Time Machine, to forcefully nip the idea in the bud.

The original film was a toe-curling mess, peppered with stomach-churning gross-out interludes.

This belated and unnecessary follow-up takes the questionable art of foul-mouthed male bonding to even grubbier depths.

“Don’t mess with a winning formula!” whoops one of the dim-witted protagonists shortly before jumping in for a second dip in the mystical jacuzzi.

If anyone willingly hands over hard-earned money to watch this humourless, witless and occasionally offensive aberration, then they deserve to spend 93 soul-destroying minutes in the company of irritating lead actors Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson and Clark Duke.

John Cusack, one of the stars of the first film, sensibly bailed out before cameras started rolling, so his character is repeatedly name-checked but never glimpsed in the flesh.

If only Pink’s film could vanish without trace.

Comedy/Sci-Fi/Romance

Star rating: 1/10