Three men in their mid-40s.</p><p>Life isn't going as they had planned.</p><p>Adam (John Cusack) is an insurance salesman. His girlfriend has just left him, and his friends say he's become a jerk.</p><p>Nick (Craig Robinson) wanted to be a musician. Now he works at a dog salon and just found out his wife is cheating on him.</p><p>And Lou (Rob Corddry) is a miserable, out-of-control drunk whose recent suicide attempt brings the three childhood friends together for a men's weekend at a ski resort they visited every winter as teenagers. Adam's nephew Jacob (Clark Duke), a 17-year-old computer nerd, tags along for lack of anything better to do. </p><p>Their beloved ski resort has turned into a snowy wasteland, a mirror to the poor road that their own lives have taken. The town is deserted, the hotel dilapidated and their old bachelor pad has a strong odor of cat urine.</p><p>They spend the night in a glowing hot tub, drink enough to make the boys from "The Hangover" look like Carrie Bradshaw, and wake up the next morning in the winter of 1986.</p><p>They are given two options, repeat the weekend just as they did 25 years ago, or do things right and put their lives on the track they really want. </p><p>When I saw the trailer for this film, I immediately flashed back to an unfortunate two hours spent watching Will Ferrell's "Land of the Lost," a throwback to the television series of the same name. I distinctly remember walking into the theater feeling nothing but encouraging thoughts. It was a Will Ferrell movie, and an homage to the laughable pre-millennium special effects. What I sat through was a two-hour exercise in bad jokes and absolute idiocy.</p><p>I assumed a similar throwback to bad fashion and techno music of the '80s would travel a similar road.</p><p>I was absolutely wrong. Rather than depending on '80s jokes and shock gags, the film develops an incredible chemistry between the three characters, allowing them to have wonderfully funny scenes together as well as developing their own individual stories -- a wise decision because all three are gifted comedians -- especially "The Daily Show" veteran Corddry, who runs wild with the asinine and obnoxious Lou. </p><p>"Hot Tub Time Machine" is a well-written, engaging comedy, a must see when it is released on DVD.