Ah, the ’80s. A marvelous time for movies packed with quality comedy verging on the raunchy level, but without going too far — at least not regularly. “Hot Tub Time Machine” is, both literally and figuratively, a throwback to that ’80s style, and, much like the ’80s, this is both a good and bad thing.

First thing’s first: The movie is funny. Not “wWw this is the best thing ever, I think I wet my pants funny,” but solid laughs. The cast delivers punch line after punch line without a whim of remorse toward the lack of story or otherwise value to the film. This is to be expected as the movie is, for all purposes, making fun of its own content and trying very little to be anything more than a rousing round of chuckles.

Any instance you go back in time, you have to deal with two very driving possibilities: that history can be altered, or that the past cannot be changed. In either situation, disbelief must usually be suspended in order to not simply look at the film and curse repeatedly about how this or that makes no sense. This is where “Hot Tub Time Machine” succeeds admirably. Due to its high quantity of silliness, you can just ignore the historical inaccuracies or questions that should arise due to the ever-present butterfly effect that their decisions impart toward the course of time.

While the comedy is good, however, not all of the jokes hit perfectly. Sometimes it gets a little too overdone or just isn’t all that funny to everyone. Like many comedies that exist just for comedy’s sake — as opposed to action comedies or dramatic comedies — there isn’t much to enjoy beyond the laughs. Following the rule of time, the characters must tread carefully to ensure that history isn’t knocked out of whack and everything is all hunky-dory when the time machine ends its magic. All of the tried and true systems of time travel are poked fun at through a variety of dialogue and plot devices — my favorite being the “Back to the Future” reference of making sure you don’t fade away.

Somewhere along the way, the audience is supposed to catch that there is more than just jokes. To break it down simply, the characters are all dealing with the depressing realities of their lives and get the opportunity to realize how meaningful the journey of life is rather than the destination. This is the “deepest” part of the film, and thankfully this isn’t dwelled upon long enough at any point to take too much away from the laughs.

As for actual performances, the only non-funny thing is really the movie’s star: John Cusack. Cusack was a ’80s comedy star and is today still a funny guy in a way that most of the popular comedians are lacking. Unfortunately, this time it felt more like he simply phoned in the job. The rest of the cast look to be having a fun time, while Cusack looks more like he is lost in a memory of the ’80s comedies he rocked so well. The real stand-out is Crispin Glover, who tends to stand out in any crowd anyway. Glover isn’t your normal sort of comedian — he’s really not your normal sort of anything really. To add to the fun: Chevy Chase cameos, bringing along more of that nostalgia for days gone by.

The real downside to the movie is that it isn’t a pure throwback. The style of comedy is more akin to modern comedy, rather than the delivery style of situations and screwball antics popular a few decades ago. The references to the ridiculousness of the ’80s isn’t enough to really nail down more than a few mere pop references you could have grabbed off of a “You were born in the ’80s if … ” quiz on Facebook. The plot is just silly enough to allow for anything to occur, but then the writer apparently wanted to make sure there were a few hints of message rather than putting only laughs to the forefront and character growth secondary or even tertiary.

There aren’t a whole lot of problems with the movie, but then there isn’t a whole lot of anything worthwhile in the movie to be disappointed about. It’s just another flick to give audiences a small laugh fix.

Gabriel Stoffa is senior in communication studies and political science from Ottumwa.