Movie Review: Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg

Kingsgate Films

Rating:4

Unless you‘ve grown too mature for stupid, gross-out pothead humor since 2004 when Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle came out, don‘t expect to be disappointed.It basically involves the same material only with more gratuitous nudity and is nonetheless hilarious.

Big fans of the predecessor might be skeptical of this film since it is a sequel,especially since enough abysmal failures of this kind already exist.Regardless,with its shocking vulgarity and outlandish stoner scenarios– including one involving unicorn hallucination– the film stays true to itself.It is far from what anybody could consider brilliant,but it might just make you laugh louder and harder than any of the“smarter“ comedies that have come out recently.

The endearing potheads are back:Indian-American Kal Penn as Kumar and Korean-American John Cho,as Harold.GuantanamoBay starts right whereWhite Castleleft off,as the pair is on their way toAmsterdam to visit Harold‘s girlfriend.

Without exploiting the ethnicities of the main characters for cheap laughs,the film deals with race and the stereotypes in a goofy manner,exaggerating reality to show how ridiculous it all is.

On a flight over,Kumar decides that he has to try out his new“smokeless“ bong in the restroom,which just happens to look a lot of like a bomb.After a series of mishaps and instances of racial profiling,this lands them inGuantanamoBay,where they are under suspicionfor being part of a North Korea-Al Qaedaterror plot.

Unlike the first movie,there is somewhat of a political edge present which somehow surprisingly works– the film never seems too take itself too seriously and never comes off as preachy or pedantic.

The title is a little misleading,as the boys spend less than ten minutes in detainment before they escapeGuantanamoBay.Thus begins their zany journey through the South,taking them on such adventures as a“bottomless“ party inMiami,a Ku Klux Klan kegger,and an encounter with a stoned,amiable Dubya at his own home.Of course,eventually they run into their old friend,the frighteningly decadent Neil Patrick Harris,played by himself,all while being pursued a by the U.S.government,led by the RonFox (Rob Corddry).

However,there were times when one must admit the content was a bit much.I definitely felt like a girly girl at times.I mean,the movie is gross– I can‘t emphasize that enough.Perhaps I‘ll never understand why all the males in the audience got such a kick out of watching Corddry wipe his butt on the Bill of Rights,leaving a fully visible streak of excrement on paper,but I‘ll just take their word for it.To each his own.

–Sonia Parecadan