Our favourite stoners are back, three years after their Guantanamo Bay escapades. This time, the guys are in 3D, blowing smoke into our faces as Christmas trees catch fire, ping-pong balls ricochet off walls and cars explode in the night. The 3D doesn't enhance the movie, but at least Harold and Kumar are clever enough to mock it with some verbal winks.
Harold and Kumar have grown up since Guantanamo and the very first Harold and Kumar in 2004. Harold is now a Wall Street yuppie, happily married to his sweetheart Maria (the lovely Paula Garces) in a comfy suburban home. He's fallen out of touch with Kumar, who failed a drug test at medical school and has devolved into a slacker with a pregnant girlfriend.
Bringing them together is a big, beautiful Christmas tree that Harold's cranky father-in-law gives him, but Kumar soon torches. That sparks a wild goose chase through Manhattan to replace the tree. Imagine a blur of Ukrainian gangsters, a stoned two-year-old, Neil Patrick Harris in a Yuletide musical and a waffle-making robot.
Of course, it doesn't make sense. The story is an excuse for slapstick, rude gags and lots of weed. The third H&K is marginally funnier than the last, but still pales next to the original, which was sweet, witty and slammed racial stereotypes (Harold is Korean-American and Kumar is South Asian).
Sure, there are some laughs and leads John Cho and Kal Penn make a fine comedy team. However, I don't find anything funny about a two-year-old inhaling cocaine or Neil Patrick Harris trying to sodomize a dancer in his dressing room.
I hope there's another Harold and Kumar, but that it's as funny and smart as the first.
(Warner)Harold and Kumar have grown up since Guantanamo and the very first Harold and Kumar in 2004. Harold is now a Wall Street yuppie, happily married to his sweetheart Maria (the lovely Paula Garces) in a comfy suburban home. He's fallen out of touch with Kumar, who failed a drug test at medical school and has devolved into a slacker with a pregnant girlfriend.
Bringing them together is a big, beautiful Christmas tree that Harold's cranky father-in-law gives him, but Kumar soon torches. That sparks a wild goose chase through Manhattan to replace the tree. Imagine a blur of Ukrainian gangsters, a stoned two-year-old, Neil Patrick Harris in a Yuletide musical and a waffle-making robot.
Of course, it doesn't make sense. The story is an excuse for slapstick, rude gags and lots of weed. The third H&K is marginally funnier than the last, but still pales next to the original, which was sweet, witty and slammed racial stereotypes (Harold is Korean-American and Kumar is South Asian).
Sure, there are some laughs and leads John Cho and Kal Penn make a fine comedy team. However, I don't find anything funny about a two-year-old inhaling cocaine or Neil Patrick Harris trying to sodomize a dancer in his dressing room.
I hope there's another Harold and Kumar, but that it's as funny and smart as the first.