So these are paired viewings of a sort, in that they both feature middle-aged people who are thrown back together with their youthful friends to think about how awesome their lives used to be and how much they suck now. Other than that, though, they’re pretty different!

The Chig Bill is a movie that takes place in the ‘80s and their good ol’ days were the ‘60s, which means it’s like all about that whole “betrayed idealism” thing where a bunch of hippies sold out and became The Man. Which is such an awesomely retro conceit that the movie felt like it was doing two layers of nostalgia, completely unintentionally. And it’s just as well it had that going on, as otherwise, it was mostly just a kinda rambling, shambling thing that didn’t really go anywhere.

Hot Tub Time Machine, conversely-wise, takes place in now and the good ol’ days were the ‘80s, except that – this is a spoiler if you don’t know the title of the movie – they go BACK IN TIME to the ‘80s.

This is not a movie I would normally have watched, due to the part where it sounds stupid, but I think people said it was good, but maybe that was just one friend? So anyway, it wasn’t really GOOD in any objective sense. But if you accept that this is the kind of movie that’s named “Hot Tub Time Machine” and go into it with expectations that it will be full of vomiting and have major plot events that are hideously offensive to all decent people, then it was actually pretty decent, with some actors who have solid comic timing.

Also, it has reminded me that Mötley Crüe’s Home Sweet Home is a genuine masterpiece, one of the great songs in the popular music canon. (The worst part is, I don’t know if this is a generally agreed-upon truth, or my own idiosyncratic opinion cutting against mainstream thought.)