It’s not My Dinner with Andre or Judd Apatow but as a stupid ass, gutter focused, supremely silly stoner comedy, I really like it! And shock of shocks, it may be inspired by Homer’s Odyssey, the one about the dangerous quest.
The anticipation is half the fun – how can Harold and Kumar ever get away with joking about something as grim as Gitmo? How will they do it and why are they there in the first place?
Especially for a couple of hams who spent two hours getting into trouble associated with the finding of a White Castle and its outstanding hamburgers back in 2004.
The unleashed imagination of the writers and the truly engaging leads John Cho and Kal Pen create an irresistible package. They have refined the attack, tone and pace set in the original film.
There’s greater emphasis on how they’re as different as night and day and a hilarious dream sequence where their identities shift. We watch them prepare for the flight, how they handle airline security and the challenges of smoking weed on a plane.
Different perspectives.
It’s interesting that we have learned absolutely nothing about their histories, where they came from, who they are, but it doesn’t matter. We’re with them for a good time, not an enlightened time.
How to talk about this one without spoilers? The scenarios are so unanticipated and outrageous that I can barely stop myself from blurting them all out.
It is an episodic road trip, which clearly takes cues from the Odyssey - encountering the Sirens, the Cyclops, and a gob-smacking array of dangerous personalities as they undergo their quest to get to Amsterdam for the weed and the girl.
Odysseus, Harold and Kumar style.
Along the way, they meet Beverly D’Angelo and her friend Tits Hemmingway in a comic misunderstanding that ends with gunfire.
Neil Patrick Harris is back. Bustin’ to tell you more! Just stay until the closing credits are over. Harris really has a gift for freaky dangerous comedy.
Many, most, or all of the jokes are crude and offensive depending on your particular sensitivity. That is entirely expected but the offence is waaaay ramped up since the White Castle brouhaha.
The Guantanamo sequence is not long enough, but my bet is that the filmmakers played it safe and sex based rather than political. Even so, it was a stroke of brilliance even conceiving of sending them there.
Some folks were not as enthusiastic and I was at a screening I attended, but that may have more to do with being straight laced than lacking humour. Granted the humour is really base at times, but carried on the back of a terrific idea.
Opens: April 25
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