Doogie Howser Did It, So Why Not Me?

HTTM

About to sit down and watch Hot Tub Time Machine.

Been excited for this for a while. It hopefully involves a vein of funny that isn’t always found in most comedy movies and has somewhat of an indescribable feel to it. Kinda like the first time you saw Napoleon Dynamite and all you could say was just go see this. I can’t explain the funny it just is, and you have to see it to know what I’m talking about.

Review to come later.
(Update: review after the break)

Well that was quite a ride. In a lot of ways, it was exactly what I expected. In a lot of other ways I was thoroughly impressed. The small nuances, the little head nods to things, and and overall fun movie that didn’t take itself too seriously.

I think it’s that last part, that makes this movie so great. The movie didn’t take itself seriously. Not in the way that, no one cared about it, and phoned the whole thing in. More, that there was room to be serious about the plot, or the jokes, or the whole “time travel” thing. Except they didn’t go there.

It was good movie making, with all the right pieces in the right places, but it still retained the feeling like everyone from the writers to the director to the cast and crew, were having so much fun making a movie and were willing to say “hey, let’s just make a funny ass movie, let’s do it right and let’s have a hell of a lot of fun while we do it”.

And it shows. In the same way that The Hangover was a smash sleeper hit, because it was a movie that didn’t say to itself “hey we’re going to be the sleeper hit of the year, we need to think we’re cock of the walk”, it too had a quality about itself that created the perfect formula for a great comedy movie.

I can point to Dumb and Dumber. Man what a masterpiece in my eyes. So funny on all the dumbest and crudest and gross out levels, yet at the same time (and I say this will all honesty) one of the smartest movies (comedies) I have ever seen. (If you don’t know why it’s a smart movie that’s a whole other post, and something I would love to educate you on).

HTTM is the same way. It’s smart without being the guy with the glasses and his pants hiked up to his armpits. It’s cleaver about the way it plays to the audience. It will take a moment to stop, acknowledge what it just did and then keep on moving without feeling like it was taking away too much. Yet it doesn’t over use that gimmick.

Then there are the subtle references and homages to both the 80′s and other movies, and other 80′s movies. This may just be dating myself, but I found that most of the audience missed many of these, either because they didn’t notice them or they were too young to get the references. My favorite (and I won’t tell you when or where in the movie it comes) was a great slight reference to the Karate Kid and the infamous “put him in a body bag” line. So genius. Soooo funny (if you catch it).

You see, HTTM works on all those levels that make a great comedy work. It plays to the lowest common denominator, but only because the comedy comes from a very intelligent and almost high brow point, but not so high brow that they take themselves to seriously or become stuffy. And it has one of the best titular lines (where they say the title of the movie as a line of dialogue) of all time.

The other great point to the movie are all the subtle, and not so subtle references to other movies that deal with either time travel or perception of time. Be on the lookout.

Over all the cast is amazing. They all give great performances, while not all solid through the entire movie and some of them fall into tried and true patterns, they all have their moments to shine.

There are a few notable cameos and niche roles that do stand out. 2 of them very prominent and one of them who most won’t recognize by name, but I completely appreciate his contributions to the entire world of comedy for the last 20 years. First in the smallest of roles, was Thomas Lennon, of Reno 911 and The State fame. If you don’t know his fingerprint is all over hollywood comedy even if not publicly stated. From writing, to directing, to creating shows, to consulting on scripts and ideas. The man is a comedic genius. His scene almost stole the movie for me.

The next man on the list is Chevy Chase. In very much a similar role as Bill Murray in Zombieland (without playing himself), Chevy added an additional layer of class and comedy history to the film.

Though, I must say the one who pretty much stole the show for me and hopefully will help his career make a comeback was Crispin Glover. Best known for playing George McFly in Back to the Future. His bit role, was perfect. His comedic timing was spot on in HTTM. It was great to see him not taking himself too seriously, which long story short is why he disappeared from films for the last 25 years. He plays the part perfectly with such a disdain for those around, him, yet is lovable and odd all at the same time. Great casting, amazing comedic acting.

I can easily see HTTM living up to the hype that it’s been getting. I think this is the perfect time in the year for it to be released. I hope it develops a huge cult following on DVD, which I cannot wait for. It’s one of those movies you can just tell the special features are going to be something to write home about. The deleted/extended scenes will make no sense, be completely irreverent and unbelievably hilarious. More than likely it will be unrated (for more boobs). And hopefully the cast commentary will almost be an entirely different funny movie.

I’m sure there’s even more to talk about, but I’ll just say go see the movie, come back and we’ll continue the discussion about a great funny movie in the comments. Let me know what you think.

And here’s the trailer if you’ve read this far and have no idea what I’m talking about. (shame on you)