Tag Archives: Chevy Chase

Hot Tub Time Machine 2

 

Let’s time-travel ahead 5 years to this 2020 vision: It’s 3:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning. After a night on the town, you’re winding down by flipping through cable channels. Most are running infomercials for weight loss supplements, Bowflexes, etc. But, alas, Comedy Central has a movie!

It is Hot Tub Time Machine 2, which you have never seen. In a manner similar to that of a morbidly curious person staring at a horrible car crash, you are transfixed by the film’s awfulness. When a commercial comes on, you travel back in time by rewinding your live DVR and rewatching the previous 10 or so minutes to confirm that you actually saw what you thought you saw.

This film is unfunny and not at all entertaining. The story, of course, is absurd and hardly worth mentioning. But that was not a surprise. The shocker was the appropriate absolute silence from the preview audience in response to much of the movie’s script. Low comedy is okay; unfunny low comedy is a bore.

Hot Tub Time Machine 2 is a movie that, for me, stirred one particular emotion: pity. For the cast and crew whose names will be forever linked to this stinker via IMDB. Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Adam Scott, Jason Jones and Chevy Chase have all done worthwhile work, but HTTM2 is a shameful mess. Clark Duke is a lesser-known actor but he, too, like the aforementioned men, should’ve known better.

(Should you watch the above red band trailer, you’ll note that it says “This Christmas.” Apparently, somebody knew better than waste valuable holiday theater screens on this turkey.)

Okay, back to your future: On that late Saturday/early Sunday in 2020, you finally come to your senses and flip from Hot Tub Time Machine 2 to that Bowflex ad. And you are a happier person for having done so.

 

 

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Life Itself

Roger Ebert had a fantastic life. The medical issues of his last few years were difficult and his passing last year was sad, but his was a life full of high points. The new documentary film Life Itself shows Roger Ebert in all stages of his life, but is most revealing during last portion when he was faced with one health challenge after another.

Though he is best known for talking about movies on TV, mainly with fellow critic Gene Siskel, Life Itself makes it clear the Roger Ebert was an immensely talented writer.

An excerpt from a byline piece he wrote for the Daily Illini after the 1964 Birmingham church bombing is featured in the film. An on-screen commenter opines that the column from this 21-year-old was the best thing written after the incident.

Ebert’s review of Bonnie and Clyde, written early in his tenure as film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times proves to be an accurate assessment of that film’s importance.

Among the film’s highlights are outtakes from his work with Siskel. Their relationship was contentious for many years but got better as they got older and realized the value of their partnership. Several of the show’s producers and Siskel’s widow provide useful perspectives.

As they became famous, they often guested on the Johnny Carson show. In one of the movie’s funniest clips, Ebert trashes the film Three Amigos while sitting next to Chevy Chase, one of the film’s stars. Chase’s takes are hilarious.

While Ebert’s wife Chaz is mentioned prominently in the book Life, Itself, she is even more front and center in the movie. She provides support and caregiving during his health crises and shares numerous meaningful observations.

Some viewers may find the nurses’ suctioning of Ebert’s throat and other hospital scenes hard to watch, but Ebert and Chaz were okay with cameras being there. Chaz mentions Ebert having been hurt by Siskel’s decision not to share word of his terminal illness with Roger. Ebert, in turn, vowed to be open about his cancer, even posing for the cover of Esquire magazine after cancer had affected his appearance.

For fans of movies, especially those who enjoy talking about movies and reading movie reviews, Life Itself is a film you need to see. And Roger Ebert, the critic and the man, is a person you’ll appreciate knowing more about.

 

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