Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle shocked me. All I expected was the longest White Castle commercial ever created. Sure, it delivered on that prospect, but it also brought the funny and even more surprisingly, between the weed and fart jokes, it dealt out stingingly smart satire on stereotypes. It’s one of the best comedies of this decade (yeah you read that right), and I was looking forward to Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay almost as much as Indy IV and The Dark Knight (yep, you read that right too).
I was even considering Harold and Kumar 2 the official kickoff for the summer season despite everyone else saying, nu-uh that honor goes to Iron Man. And I was like, screw that. Neil Patrick Harris on a unicorn. How can an image like that not signify this film as the true summer ’08 opener.
Damn, now I’m going to forget I ever thought that way and join the Iron Man bandwagon, because Harold and Kumar 2 disappoints.
The film’s story picks up exactly where the last one left off. Harold and Kumar are on their way to Amsterdam to smoke all the legal weed they can. Unfortunately, the plane’s passengers mistake Kumar’s smokeless bong as a bomb and the government drops the boys off in Gitmo. Suffice to say they escape and raunchy antics and Neil Patrick Harris (whose unhinged self send-up provides the movie’s biggest laughs) ensue.
Puma riding, hotties playing “Battle Shits,” and of course a horny NPH are just a few examples of the first Harold and Kumar’s lunatic brand of comedy. You never knew what the hell would pop up next. The film zipped along in unpredictable territory and that’s why it’s hilarious. Yet, for Harold and Kumar 2, the filmmakers read the “Austin Powers How-to Sequel” manual. Several jokes from the predecessor get retooled and rolled out again with diminished returns.
And the same can be said for the social commentary too. Obviously writers/directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg take potshots at the Bush administration and post-9/11 security. Yet, it’s all been said a thousand times already in the last few years. It’s tired and limp. And the character representing the government’s hell-bent security measures, a dumb as shit agent played by usually reliable Rob Coddry, is one of the least funny, grating characters I’ve seen a long time. And he swallows up lots of screen-time. All of it dead air.
The only element keeping the film afloat is the undeniable comedic chemistry between Kal Penn and John Cho. They mine some laughs from the dull material and no one can accuse them of playing it lazy. I just wish the same could be said about the filmmakers.
