Old School Review: Harold and Kumar

The past few weeks I have watched quite a few "buddy comedies".  My wife and I recently watched Paul.  I wrote a review of the film which you can read here.  I also recently watched one of the great buddy comedies of the past few years, Superbad.  I need to write an old school review of that film!  Tonight though, I bring you a review of one of the greatest buddy comedies to come to the big screen in a long time, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. You may be wondering why the photo above states that they get the munchies?  I'm not exactly sure why it says that other than that may be from when the movie was approved by the MPAA and perhaps it was changed at the last second?  Further reading revealed that this title was the European title.

The movie's tagline says "Introducing the Asian guy from American Pie and that Indian guy from Van Wilder directed by the guy that made Dude Where's My Car".  The Asian guy is John Cho and the Indian is Kal Penn.  John Cho has gained more fame since starring as Sulu on the newest Star Trek films and Penn was a regular on the tv show House and now works for the White House. Danny Lenier directed the film.  He also directed such shows as Arrested Development and Freaks and Geeks.  Also starring is Paula Garces as Cho's love interest Maria and Christopher Meloni as Freakshow.  I will not say anymore about Freakshow.  You will have to find out more for yourself. How could I forget.  The real star of this movie is Neil "Doogie Howser" Patrick Harris.

The story is simple.  You have 2 guys, Harold and Kumar.  Did I mention that this is a stoner flick? I think I have mentioned this before.  I do not and have never ever done any kind of drugs but I find the movies about that subject freaking hilarious.  Harold and Kumar are both 2 very smart guys. Harold is an accountant for a firm that crunches numbers all day and Kumar is a very smart student that could be a doctor if he wanted but chooses to sit around and smoke weed all day. After an evening of smoking weed they "get the munchies".  They decide to take a short drive to their local White Castle.  This is where all the fun begins.  If you've read this far into the review then you probably know where it is going from here.  They come across rabid animals, college students with diahrea, literally a freak show, beat up white trash rednecks and take a little ride on a cheetah for fun.  They eventually pick up a stranded hitch hiker, Neil Patrick Harris.  NPH takes the movie and adds nothing but pure laughter.  He plays himself high on crank and looking for nothing but women.  It's cool and surprising that an actor like himself would do a role like this but makes it even better.  You can decide for yourself and watch the film to figure out if they make it to White Castle or get mauled to death by a cheetah.

I never watched this film in the theater nor do I think many people did at all.  I think it was released at the wrong time when a lot of crappy low budget comedies were all coming out and unfortunately Harold and Kumar was flushed down the toilet with them.  From what I understand it really picked up when it was released on DVD.  It then began to have a cult following and even warranted 2 sequels, Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantonomo Bay and A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas to be released this fall.  Are these films crude and dirty?  Yes!  Are they funny as hell?  Yes but they are a good time to watch and relax and especially if you have the munchies, high or not!