HAROLD & KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY
June 20th 2008 01:44
Directed By Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
Written By Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
Stars: John Cho, Kal Penn, Neil Patrick Harris, Rob Corddry, Paula Garces
The THC soaked adventures of Harold and Kumar previously saw them struggling to find a White Castle burger joint while avoiding a roving gang of extreme sports fanatics, having their car stolen by a ecstasy and coke-addled Neil Patrick Harris (of TV’s How I Met Your Mother) and, in a moment of drug fuelled surrealism, riding on the back of a galloping cheetah.
This latest effort picks up where the last one left off, with the intrepid pair of tokers bound for Amsterdam in order to track down Harold’s (Cho) object of desire, Maria (Garces). Kumar (Penn) is the instigator of the voyage and as a precautionary measure, he smuggles his ‘smokeless bong’ on board the flight. Several ‘bong/bomb’ terrorist gags later and the pair is in the custody of psychotic homeland security official Ron Fox (Corddry). They’re swiftly sent to Guantanamo Bay where they must devise an escape plan and attempt to clear their names. Cue gratuitous gross-out humour, incest jokes, full frontal nudity and racism gags.
For audiences members expecting a shrewdly constructed satire on Guantanamo Bay, look elsewhere. Harold & Kumar’s idea of savage criticism is a gag about the prison guards feeding the inmates ‘cockmeat sandwiches’. That said, it’s still pretty funny and although many of the gags are retreads of those from the previous film we’re still provided with some amusing moments, notably from Neil Patrick Harris, who takes the lion’s share of the laughs, playing himself as a whore-mongering, mushroom chomping freak with a penchant for branding women’s nether regions with his initials. Just make sure you’re really stoned when you see it.
JARROD WALKER
Written By Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
Stars: John Cho, Kal Penn, Neil Patrick Harris, Rob Corddry, Paula Garces
The THC soaked adventures of Harold and Kumar previously saw them struggling to find a White Castle burger joint while avoiding a roving gang of extreme sports fanatics, having their car stolen by a ecstasy and coke-addled Neil Patrick Harris (of TV’s How I Met Your Mother) and, in a moment of drug fuelled surrealism, riding on the back of a galloping cheetah.
This latest effort picks up where the last one left off, with the intrepid pair of tokers bound for Amsterdam in order to track down Harold’s (Cho) object of desire, Maria (Garces). Kumar (Penn) is the instigator of the voyage and as a precautionary measure, he smuggles his ‘smokeless bong’ on board the flight. Several ‘bong/bomb’ terrorist gags later and the pair is in the custody of psychotic homeland security official Ron Fox (Corddry). They’re swiftly sent to Guantanamo Bay where they must devise an escape plan and attempt to clear their names. Cue gratuitous gross-out humour, incest jokes, full frontal nudity and racism gags.
For audiences members expecting a shrewdly constructed satire on Guantanamo Bay, look elsewhere. Harold & Kumar’s idea of savage criticism is a gag about the prison guards feeding the inmates ‘cockmeat sandwiches’. That said, it’s still pretty funny and although many of the gags are retreads of those from the previous film we’re still provided with some amusing moments, notably from Neil Patrick Harris, who takes the lion’s share of the laughs, playing himself as a whore-mongering, mushroom chomping freak with a penchant for branding women’s nether regions with his initials. Just make sure you’re really stoned when you see it.
JARROD WALKER
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