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Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

By Michael Schilf · October 21, 2010

Screenplay Genre: Comedy / Sci-Fi

Movie Time: 100 minutes

1. INCITING INCIDENT

In an attempt to relive their glory days, three best friends Adam (John Cusack), Nick (Craig Robinson), and Lou (Rob Corddry) arrive in Kodiak Valley Ski Resort, dragging Adam's nephew, Jacob (Clark Duke), along for the weekend, but K-Valley and the Silver Peaks Lodge is completely run down, a shadow of it's former self. Staying in the same room where they spent some of the best weekends of their lives, the guys get drunk in the hot tub, spilling Lou's energy drink Chernobly on the controls. (00:12:40)

2. LOCK IN (End of Act One)

The next day while skiing on the mountain, they notice everyone in and around the lodge is dressed as if stuck in the '80s. A little freaked out, they return to their room, but when they see the one-armed bellhop now has two arms, they're convinced: "It must be some kind of hot tub time machine." Their conclusion is validated when they look in the mirror and see their old selves exactly as they were 20 years earlier during a weekend at Winterfest '86. (00:24:24)

3. FIRST CULMINATION (Midpoint)

After a hot tub repairman (Chevy Chase) cryptically explains that they must do exactly as they did 20 years ago, the guys set their plan in action: Nick to have sex with a groupie, Lou to get beat up by Chaz, and Adam to break up with Jenny. But when they meet up back at their room, Nick and Lou are pissed to find out that they did their part but Adam didn't, so Nick and Lou go out determined to change their past as well. (00:44:27)

4. MAIN CULMINATION (End of Act Two)

As Adam, Nick, and Jacob try to coax a drunk and bloodied Lou off the rooftop of the Lodge, Jacob explains that they need Lou's last can of Chernobly to get back to 2010, but Lou is belligerent, tells them Chaz stole the can, and disowns them as friends, then trips, sliding down the roof, but the guys create a human chain to save him. Still alive and together, they agree to team up to get the Chernobly back from Chaz, so they can time-travel home. (1:10:58)

5. THIRD ACT TWIST

During their quest to find the Chernobly, the guys sneak into the ski patrol's cabin during a party, but when Jacob, Adam, and Nick bust into a room, they find Lou and Kelly having sex. Jacob, knowing Kelly is his mom from twenty years earlier, is disgusted and tackles Lou off of Kelly, but immediately vanishes into thin air. Lou gets it: he's Jacob's father, so now he has no choice but to impregnate Kelly so that Jacob will reappear and be born. (1:17:21)