Susan Granger’s review of “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” (New Line Cinema)
Those pot-loving Jersey dudes from “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” are back – and this time they’re mistaken for terrorists!
For the uninitiated, straitlaced math-major Harold Lee (John Cho) is a Korean-American investment banker and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn) is an impulsive Indian-American wannabe medical student. Having satisfied their marijuana-fueled “munchies,” they head off for a smokers’ holiday in Amsterdam. Problem is: when the half-baked slackers sneak a homemade “smokeless bong” onboard the plane, turbulence strikes, the bathroom door swings open, the bong is mistaken for a bomb and they’re suspected of being part of a North Korean al-Qaeda terror conspiracy. As the plane detours to Guantanamo Bay, what else can they do but run from the law and try to find a way to prove their innocence?
Hot on their heels when they escape from Cuba with the boat people is Deputy Chief of Homeland Security Ron Fox (Rob Corddry). And complicating their angst is the realization that Kumar’s ex-girlfriend, Vanessa (Danneel Harris) is about to get married in Texas and her fiancé has White House connections that could clear their names.
Writers/directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg continue and amplify the vulgarly stereotypical and overtly political shenanigans that made their first film a hit, including graphic nudity, drug use, pervasive language and crude sexuality. While Neil Patrick Harris is back again, playing a gross-out version of himself, and there’s a visit to a bordello run by Beverly D’Angelo, the snickering filmmakers miss their chance to take on racial profiling in the war on terror.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” is a raunchy 3, not a high point for stoner comedies. Bongs away!
