Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)
I saw a sneak preview of "Harold
and Kumar Go to White Castle" last weekend and I have
to admit that it is the funniest fucking stoner movie
I have ever seen. I laughed so hard I missed a ton
of the jokes and there were only two of us watching.
I have never laughed so hard in all my life. Can't
wait to see it again and to own the DVD. When the
film was over, I had pissed myself so many times laughing,
I had to just throw away my BVD's. They were ruined.
If you think "Half-Baked" is a good
movie - you have to see this! If you've smoke more
than two joints in your life - you have to see this
movie. It is the funniest fucking movie I have seen
since -well - maybe even ever! I laughed so hard I
nearly hyperventilated! Somewhere this thing is going
to run at midnight for years and years to sold out
audiences.
And it may be funny as hell, but
it also doesn't hurt that actors John Cho and Kal
Penn, the stars of the film playing the titular characters,
are attractive and funny young men. These guys are
quite adept at making jokes work and nothing seems
to be outside their range. Cho plays lovelorn loser
Harold quite well and we like him easily and want
him to find happiness and love even if his search
for it is one of the lamest, hackneyed and typical
subplots ever to appear in a film. Penn is also allowed
to be more than one-dimensional in the storyline involving
his traditional father wanting him to become a doctor
like he and Kumar's brother have become. Again, although
this has been done before, perhaps even most recently
in "Van Wilder" which Penn starred in, the young actor
makes it interesting and believable and easily eeks
our sympathy out of the tired plot trapping. We like
these guys and find them friendly and familiar. It's
easy to spend 90 minutes with them.
And, of course, special kudos must
be awarded to Neil Patrick Harris who allows himself
to be portrayed against type here in one of the most
delightful extended cameos ever captured on film.
Harris is hilarious and flings his "Doogie Howser"
pigeonhole typecasting into the depths of the sea
with a performance that borders on the deliriously
insane. Harris, like his co-stars here, seems to be
willing to do anything to get a laugh, even at the
expense of his own perceived persona, and the results
often border on the hysterically funny. The appearance
of Harris as himself is the film's crowning moment
in a comedy full of laugh-out-loud funny ideas and
jokes.
This film may be the most hilarious
dope flick and road movie rolled into one I've ever
seen, beating "American Pie," "Half-Baked," "Road
Trip," "Van Wilder," and all the Cheech and Chong
flicks rolled into one for pure laughs. But it also
has much more going on than just that. Like Cheech
and Chong, the young actors here present an ethnically
diverse face of American culture that is rare in comedies.
Cho and Penn don't play Harold and Kumar as white-acting
teenagers who happen to be of other ethnic backgrounds.
Rather, their ethnicity is integral to their characters
and, even more wonderful, becomes the source of many
uproarious jokes. In fact, it is the white characters
here who are perhaps mistreated by the script as they
are almost all depicted as either racists or dumbasss
or both. But this slight works because no one, least
of all Harold and Kumar, act under the pretext that
all white people are like this. Rather, it is racism
and prejudice here that are truly the biggest obstacles
to overcome and this struggle presents the film with
some of its biggest jokes. This is a movie to stand
up and cheer for on many different levels even if
mostly it is because it is hilarious.
I defy anyone who has ever smoked
a joint and gotten the munchies not to find "Harold
and Kumar" one of the most hilarious films ever. I
can't wait to see it again. I can't wait to take my
friends. I can't wait to own the DVD. Hell, this film
is so good it even makes you hungry for White Castle's
cruddy burgers.
Note:
Also with David Krumholtz, Anthony
Anderson, Ethan Embry, Jaime Kennedy, Christopher
Meloni, Ryan Reynolds, Eddie Kaye Thomas, and Fred
Willard. Luis Guzman was in some scenes that were
deleted.
Directed by Danny Leiner (whose
"Dude Where's My Car" is referenced in dialogue here)
and written by John Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg
who have their first filmed script with this movie.
White Castle executives okayed the
use of their restaurants and logos in the film even
though they agreed that Harold and Kumar engage in
many activities that they do not condone.
Viewed at a sneak preview in Austin
in July 2004.
