Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (Hurwitz/Schlossberg, 2008)
Just when you thought it was safe to venture back into your local multiplex, along comes another mindless, raunchy teen sex/pot comedy. Wait, no, that’s not right, not exactly, anyway. What we’re talking about is no ordinary sex or pot flick, but the much anticipated sequel to Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. Four years in the making, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay is every bit as raunchy, vulgar, crude, viciously parodying racial stereotypes, left, right, and center and then some. It’s that “then some” that ultimately undermines Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay: the jokes are too crass and the political humor too obvious, and thus, sadly, it’s no match for its predecessor. Well, with the exception of Neil Patrick Harris’ return as “Neil Patrick Harris,” a libido-driven, drug-addicted caricature of his public persona.
The sequel picks up minutes after the end of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. After a long, very long night of getting high, running into all sorts of mischief, finding and devouring White Castle hamburgers, Harold Lee (John Cho), one-half of Harold and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn), finally got the nerve to talk to the woman of his dreams, Maria (Paula Garcés). Unfortunately, she was headed to Amsterdam for work, postponing the consummation of their relationship (if that’s what you want to call a few smoldering lips, a conversation on an elevator, and making out). The impulsive Kumar convinces Harold to ditch work and follow Maria to Amsterdam.
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