Published: May 01, 2008 06:54 pm            

Sequel goes up in smoke

Certainly, I can sense your trepidation.

“Benji,” you say, “I never saw ‘Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.’ I don’t feel I’m ready for the sequel. What if I miss some of the intricacies of the story?”

Not to worry. If you choose to see “Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,” you’ll probably be able to keep up just fine. However, I’m not saying you won’t be full of regret afterward.

The second installment of the series picks up right where the first film left off, with our intrepid, smoked-out Cheech and Chong wannabes preparing to fly to Amsterdam so that Harold (John Cho) can make a play for the girl of his dreams. During the flight, Kumar (Kal Penn) decides he can’t wait to touch down in the land of illegal drugs and lights up in the bathroom. The passengers mistake his smoking device for a bomb and pandemonium ensues.

The two are thrown into Guantanamo Bay, and the story follows their misadventures as they escape to freedom and attempt to clear their names, all while Kumar tries to disrupt the wedding of the love of his life and to win back her hand. Along the way, they encounter inbreeding, Klan members, a new trend in parties, a very unappetizing sandwich and an encounter with the president.

With the original film, there were many laughs brought about just from the absurdity of the situations the duo found themselves in during their quest to quench their munchies. It allowed the two to run free without attempting to rein them in. While it certainly isn’t a classic by any stretch of the imagination, it had some fun parts and genuine laughs. The second film strives hard to re-create this manic energy and feel, but fails miserably.

Whereas the first built upon the situations and found the humor therein, the sequel tries to force the funny where there isn’t any.

Instead, the jokes fall flat as the filmmakers load the movie down with crude, disgusting and offensive attempts at humor. Rob Corddry, as the most racist federal agent ever, goes from being mildly amusing at first to just foolish as he trots out every conceivable stereotype regarding every race and religion one could imagine. With a film like “Blazing Saddles,” stereotypes were used to humorous effect to show absurdity to a nation coming out of the civil rights movement and ashamed of its behavior. With “Harold and Kumar,” the film seems to say these offensive things just because it can.

Most of the plot and jokes cannot be discussed in a family newspaper, so I won’t attempt it. I will say that the one redeeming character in this film was also the best part of the original: Neil Patrick Harris - playing Neil Patrick Harris.

Harris seems to latch onto the idea of playing this alter ego and embraces it with gusto. Much like with Ricky Gervais’ celebrity cameos on “Extras,” Harris takes the opportunity to poke fun at preconceived notions of himself and to create an alternative reality for the former child star. The absurdity of his performance, and the sense that he seems to be having as much fun playing “himself” as we have watching him, makes for a loose and spontaneous creation.

As the person who had the misfortune of watching this with me pointed out, perhaps it would be a better idea to drop Harold and Kumar and follow Neil Patrick Harris for the length of the film. I’m all for it.



Benji Tunnell writes for The Joplin (Mo.) Globe.

        

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