Let me be frank, "Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay" is not an outstanding film by any measure. In almost every regard, it proves to be unoriginal as it relies on a heaping dose of gross-out humor. The opening scene sets the tone with Kumar relieving himself on the toilet with a gigantic dump induced by consuming copious amounts of White Castle burgers. There are also many downright stoopid (sic) moments which are either borderline retarded or cliched beyond imagination (oh, Jews love money and blacks like grape soda, that's novel).
And yet, despite its many failings as a film and "saw that from a mile away" moments, this movie always managed to reel me back in. Ostensibly, the two main draws of this film, chemistry amongst the main actors and the surprisingly intellectual sociopolitical satire, are enough to mitigate its many flaws.
The titular Harold and Kumar (played by John Cho and Kal Penn respectively) have a palpable chemistry with each other. They play well off of each other and their up-and-down friendship is totally believable despite the ridiculous premise of the movie itself. For many people, this is probably the first time they are seeing these actors in leading roles and, hopefully it's not the last time. When you throw in Neil Patrick Harris aka Doogie Howser, the film reaches a high (yes, i did just say that) and provides some of the funniest scenes in the movie sans the infamous Bush scene. Rob Corrdy really hams it up, but it's necessary for his role as an ignorant asshole CIA operative.
Despite the excellent comedic chemistry amongst all the actors, I thought the most enthralling part of the film was the satire of post 9/11 politics. For a stoner film, it is surprisingly sophisticated in its lampooning of the current administration's policies, mostly through Rob Corrdry's rants as he tries to capture Harold and Kumar. The first movie was a landmark because it was probably the first movie to have two Asian-American leads acting like normal people, not stereotypes. The second film needed to do something else to separate it from other comedies, and I think because of the expert parodying of Bush politics, it succeeded.
Furthermore, I really commend the producers and New Line Cinema for willing to bank movies with Asian American leads. For an industry that prides itself on being progressive, Hollywood has been reluctant to put money behind minority actors. TV has been much more willing to cast minority actors, but Hollywood still believes that Middle America would repudiate films with minority leads. Hopefully, the Harold and Kumar trilogy (and trust me, there WILL be another movie) will inspire other studios to take some risks.
Is it a comedy for the ages? No, but it was worth my student-discounted $9.50 ticket.
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