I got a chance to check out an advance screening of the new Harold and Kumar movie at ArcLight yesterday. Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay follows the hilarious duo right where they left off in 2004; full from an obscenely large order of tiny burgers and fries and chasing Harold’s beautiful love interest Maria on her way to Amsterdam. I’ll say this now, I loved this movie.

I don’t want to give away any plot, so don’t be afraid to read on. I generally stay away from sequels like this. By “like this” I mean smash hits that are basically guaranteed sequels for financial reasons. (Example). I don’t want to see a sequel because an accountant said it made sense, I want a sequel because there is a story that isn’t finished being told.
 
Coming into their first adventure, John Cho and Kal Penn were relative unknowns. Aside from being the Indian kid from Van Wilder and that Asian guy from American Pie, their roles never really displayed the ability to carry a whole movie. Not to mention that the movie poster’s opening line, “From the director of Dude, Where’s My Car”, does little to inspire confidence. That movie sucked. Putting them together, however, proved to be a huge success, everyone involved got rich, I got to laugh and Neil Patrick Harris got to work again. Nonetheless, I had no expectation that this movie would trump the first one. I’m happy to say that it did.

The best part about ‘…Escape From Guantanamo Bay’ is that it doesn’t feel forced. The movie picks up about three and a half minutes after the end of the last movie and it naturally continues the story. The end of the first one sets up a pretty important mission for Harold and gives the feeling that there is actually a story left to tell. Of course, in true ‘Harold and Kumar’ fashion, their mission goes awry because of Kumar’s love for illegal substances and then the events that inspire the title ensue. Rob Corddry plays a hilariously racist homeland security agent with a mission to catch the escaped duo and offend every major race and religion in the process. NPH makes another appearance and is even more absurd than last time. Overall, its a great frivolous movie that you’ll probably watch several times again once it hits DVD and cable. Seeing it in the theaters is valuable though; in some scenes, the crowd’s collective response is worth the ticket price alone. From start to finish, it’s a wild, ridiculous ride by two hilariously unlucky guys that make your own life seem comparatively pleasant.

The hardest part about seeing a movie like this is the two months I have to wait to be able to talk about it with friends who didn’t see it. This movie is sure to contribute a bunch of memorable (and NSFW) quotes to the pop culture lexicon. Go check it out when it hits every theatre in the universe on April 25th. You won’t regret it. I didn’t. Though, the event’s open bar might have played a role.

Images via IMDB

Filed under: Movies — Roy @ 11:06 pm