For most of his career John Cusack has focused on projects with a fair amount of integrity, so his agreeing to star in a self-produced lowbrow comedy called Hot Tub Time Machine certainly seems like a concession to the times. Straight paycheck, hold your nose, hunker down.

Michael Fleming‘s 2.23 Variety story says that Scott Heald‘s script is about a group of guys with the usual issues and complications in their lives returning to a ski lodge where they partied as teens, blah blah. They all find themselves in a hot tub — which happens to be a time machine — and get transported to 1987. Does this mean they get to meet up with their much-younger selves and…you know, offer advice about things they shouldn’t do when they get older?

A certain David Zucker protege was originally set to direct this, I’m told, but got dumped. Steve Pink will take the reins. (That name!) Cusack will costar with Rob Corddry and probably Craig Robinson and Clark Duke besides.

Production will reportedly start in Vancouver on 4.20. Cusack and New Crime partner Grace Loh will produce with Matt Moore.

Update: The original director attached to Hot Tub was Phil Dornfeld. He worked on at least one Scary Movie pic with Zucker as well as My Boss’ Daughter.