Hot Tub Time Machine 2 is the sequel to the original Hot Tub Time Machine and continues the adventures of a group of close buddies. The movie takes place in the year 2015 and takes place during the same timeline that the last movie ended in with Lou, Jacob, and Nick all changing their pasts to change their futures. Even though they all tried to make their lives better, as of right now, the three of them aren't the happiest. Lou's companies aren't doing so well, Jacob still doesn't have much of a life purpose or a job, and Nick feels bad for stealing other people's ideas and turning them into his own to make money off of them. At one of Lou's fancy parties, all of these vulnerabilities are showcased, and things begin to go very sour for all of them. When they temporarily lose power and the lights go out at the party, Lou gets shot. Because it seems like he is going to bleed out and die, they go back to the their Hot Tub Time Machine and try to go to the past to save Lou's life and stop the murderer from ever being able to attack him. However, the group finds themselves in the year 2025, which is ten years after Lou got shot. Since all of them are confused on what happened and how they need to figure out how to save Lou from dying in the past, they attempt to find their good friend, Adam, who has strangely disappeared. However, they end up finding his son, who embarks on their adventure with them to help find the clues to help solve the mystery. The group soon deals with futuristic technology, a world that they aren't used to, betrayal, surprises, and all of the people who had it out for Lou, all in an attmept to save Lou from dying in the past. 
 Hot Tub Time Machine 2 isn't even close to being on the same level as the first, and this is mostly due to a poor plot. The beginning of the movie does a good job of introducing audiences to the movie universe, but the middle of the movie falls a little short. The movie feels dragged out during this part, and it seems as if the sole purpose of this section of the film was to ensure that the movie was an acceptably long length, resulting in this portion of the movie doing nothing except add confusion and over complicate things. However, the enticing ending of the movie has a few good moments, including wrapping up the actually exhilarating mystery, but the actual conclusion of the movie really isn't that interesting and feels slightly too forced, as if the franchise just wanted to be able to completely end everything. But, overall, aside from the fact that the dialogue does have some promise, the plot of the movie falls short in certain areas. A good chunk of the movie feels unrelated, excessive, and doesn't really serve that much of purpose, and the movie basically tries to be everything, while it ends up only managing to settle for being a decent comedy that is capable of providing laughs and showcasing cool time travel but not much else. 

 Hot Tub Time Machine 2 is still able to be an extremely fun adventure that is surprisingly clever and charming, since its grasp of time travel, alternate universes, and realities is quite intriguing to watch. In fact, the complications of time travel in the movie and references to pop culture to help explain how it is all possible makes the movie substantially more interesting. Watching how the future helps to shape the past and how the past shapes the future is actually quite engaging and is quite pleasing to watch. The movie has some truly thrilling twists and turns that help to make the movie spectacular to watch during certain moments, since it doesn't cease to surprise people, by taking advantage of what people would normally predict to happen with perfectly-timed unpredictability.
 Hot Tub Time Machine 2 greatly benefits from having a talented cast that seems to be able to enjoy their roles. Clark Duke does a fantastic job of playing Jacob, and his role is definitely one of the better ones in the movie, since there is a tremendous amount of character development for him. Craig Robinson's Nick Webber is also an amazing character, and watching the character struggle with how his future turns out tells a lot about how people act and think, as well as the importance of making choices that one can be able to stand by proudly.  However, the fact that the movie doesn't have Adam, who was a main character in the last movie and the uncle of Jacob, is definitely felt, and the movie would almost certainly be better with the character in the movie, but the movie definitely tries its best to be able to function without him. 

 Unfortunately for Hot Tub Time Machine 2, critics seemed to be incredibly harsh with the movie. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie an insanely low 14%, and IMDb gave the movie an only-slightly better 5.1/10. However, a solid 83% of Google users liked the movie, which is a good sign. Even though critics didn't seem to find that much satisfaction with the movie, comedies that are created to be pure delight, in terms of not being that serious of movie, aren't usually known for receiving high marks, so it shouldn't be that concerning for potential viewers.

 Hot Tub Time Machine 2 isn't as good as the original, and although this movie does manage to prove to be a witty, suspenseful roller coaster that knows how to throw surprises at audiences, this is not a good fit for viewers who haven't already seen the first one.