This is pretty much the whole movie.

Buy yourself a blender from K-mart. Plug it in.  Add VHS copies of Back to the Future, Ski School (the NC 17 Dean Cameron classic), The Butterfly Effect and High Fidelity, then have Hunter S. Thompson take a leak in it.  Then mix.

If that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, you should be drinking gasoline.  But not literally.

Hot Tub Time Machine (from here-on out referred to as Hot Tub, because seriously I’m not typing that out every time) is exactly as bat guano stupid as it sounds…

but that didn’t stop me from laughing my bawls off.

Though a trifle slow to start, Hot Tub manages to distinguish itself as 2010′s first great comedy.   It is a glorious, neon, psychotropic homage to the greatness that was the 80′s.  Seriously- leg warmers, bandanas, Miami Vice and gheri curls.  This movie hits it hard. And every flashed-back moment of it is fantastic.

The film is lined with every reference the film-makers could think of.  There’s even a brief Point Break reference- I shart you not.  The only real problem is that the film never quite decides what it wants to be.  Time travel comedy, John Cusack-genre film or out and out farce.  But then, the laughs and charm tended to come faster when the writers stopped tying to decide and swung for the fences.

As I figured, the film’s stand outs were Craig Robinson (Zack and Miri Make a Porno), Rob Cordry (The Daily Show) and newcomer Clark Duke.  Believe it or not, Robinson and Cordry each bring a certain amount of depth to what could otherwise be fairly stock characters (cool black guy and aging alcoholic wild man).  Craig Robinson’s star has been on the rise since appearing in Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up.   Rob Cordry turned an otherwise forgettable Ashton Kutcher vehicle (What Happens In Vegas) into riot every time he appeared on screen.  He does the same here in Hot Tub, and I think it proves that it’s time he got a shot at the top.

But Robinson and Cordry are seasoned comedians, so there’s no surprise there.  Duke, on the other hand brings a subtle comedic straight man presence that makes his extraordinary acts of nerdery seem that much cooler.  He’s not another Michael Cera rip-off; but instead he’s exactly the guy you’ve spent hours playing Halo with on a Friday night. And he’s awesome.

The only real dud is Cusack, whose primary role is to remind us that he’s John Cusack.  His acting is fine.  His jokes aren’t –well, there.  But Cusack is the quintessential 80′s underdog actor.  That’s what we expect of him, and that’s what he delivers here.  In fact, unless I miss my guess Lizzy Kaplan’s character is supposed to be evocative of Demi Moore in One Crazy Summer.

Hot Tub Time Machine may not go down as one of history’s greatest comedies, but unlike many other comedies it merits at least two viewings.  Go once just to laugh your ass off.  Then grab a bottle of scotch and count the 80′s references.

One piece of advice though, don’t take your kids.  There is a surprising amount of nudity.  Seriously, it’s a Skin-emax midnight spank-athon.