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Entertainment

Harold and Kumar: A tale of two movies

By: Santosh :+: Under: Entertainment
On: ⋅ May 3, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

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After the Harold and Kumar (henceforth referred to as H&K) poll on our front page, you knew it was just a matter of time before a review of the second installment in the H&K series was posted on here. You see, I’m a big fan of the Whitecastle movie. I distinctly remember watching it in 2004, the weekend of its release, in an empty theater. Whitecastle, even though well received by critics was termed a flop in the theaters mainly because in 2004, it did not appeal to the “masses”. Then something wonderful happened, the long tail. Popularity of the movie spread by word of mouth and when the DVD came out, it did extremely well, setting the stage for a sequel.

Lofty expectations for H&K 2

H&K2 released last weekend to much higher expectations than its predecessor.
*** Spoilers and strong language follow ***
The movie begins with Harold in the shower dreaming of his new found love interest, Maria, interrupted rudely by Kumar taking a dump in the same bathroom. So far, so good. Harold and Kumar then proceed to the airport to board a plane to Amsterdam to pursue their respective love interests, Harold to be with Maria and Kumar with Mary Jane. At the airport they run into Kumar’s ex-girlfriend, Vanessa, who is to be married in a few days to budding politician, Mr. Douchebag.

At airport security, Kumar gets pulled aside for “random security check” in a sequence that makes you shuffle uncomfortably in your seat as Kumar questions the “color” of the mixed race man’s skin and calls him “Matthew Perry”, all this to smuggle his Mary Jane onto the plane. The plane scene where Harold and Kumar light up and get busted by air marshals for being suspected terrorists, had been so widely played on YouTube and other places, it was not half as funny in the theater. They are promptly shipped off to Guantanamo where after almost being to forced to eat c*ck meat sandwiches, they conveniently escape and reach mainland US with a raft full of Cuban refugees. From there they attend a bottomless party in Miami which includes gratuitous female and yes, even some male frontal nudity. H&K discover their only hope is Mr. Douchebag politician who’s marrying Kumar’s ex in Texas, drive a convertible car through Florida into Alabama, abandon the car when they indulge in a little bit of stereotyping themselves and mistake a bunch of black men for thugs, run into inbreds and tangle with the Klan.

Meanwhile, “Tonight Show” member Rob Corddry, who plays an overzealous, racist, ignorant Homeland Security official, while interrogating Harold’s Korean parents, Kumar’s Indian parents and their two Jewish buddies, indulges in enough racial epithets, he makes Don Imus look like a NAACP member. Enter NPH, perhaps the saving grace of the movie at this stage as H&K ride across the deep South in the backseat of NPH’s car, as NPH consumes mushrooms and Jack Daniels like a kid would cake and sees visions of himself riding an unicorn, they end up in a whorehouse. H&K indulge in therapeutic bawling sessions with sympathetic prostitutes and NPH brands his initials on a prostitute ending up with him getting shot. H&K meanwhile escape and proceed to their destination in Texas where they meet up with Kumar’s ex, Vanessa, and her fiance, Douchebag. Douchebag instead of helping them loads them onto a plane with Homeland Security. Of course, they escape with a parachute and end up in President Bush’s house where they light up with him and end up preventing Vanessa from marrying Douchebag. Kumar’s love life saved, they proceed to Amsterdam to save Harold’s. A white girl, a Latina, an Asian dude and a desi guy. Hey look, it’s a regular UN meeting in Amsterdam. Of course, in the end they all meet up with plenty of Mary Jane in a sequel that falls short of expectation at least for the hardcore H&K fans.

Since part 2 is essentially a continuation of Whitecastle one cannot but help compare the two. “Guantanamo” does have a few redeeming points - the soundtrack stands out and Kumar’s “Square Root of 3″ poem when he wins his love over are worth checking out. John Cho as Harold, the meek mannered, angry young Asian accountant plays the perfect foil to Kalpen Modi, the angry young, yet happy-go-lucky pre-med Kumar. Their chemistry seems to be there. For two actors with no stand-up experience and sans the pedigree of shows like Saturday Night Live, their comedic timing is perfect. All the jokes from “Whitecastle” are still there - toilet humor, racial jokes, homo-eroticism. Yet there’s something missing, which I will explain in short order.

“Whitecastle” was a scathing critique of the racial prejudices minorities face in modern day America. Despite the comedy, when the movie ended, I felt a weird sense of empowerment. On the other hand, “Guantanamo” insists on stereotyping every racial, religious, social and ethnic group - Desis, whites, southerners, Cubans, Asians, Muslims, Jews, blacks - no one is spared. At the end, you end up feeling semi-cheated because in essence, “Guantanamo” is a romantic comedy with lots of racial jokes.

In “Whitecastle”, Harold and Kumar were a couple of potheads belonging to ethnic minorities who faced and had to overcome racial prejudices even on a minor quest like getting some burgers. In “Guantanamo”, Harold and Kumar themselves turn offenders at times, repear offenders, instead of being the victims. “Whitecastle” is famous for the return of NPH to big time entertainment. And then, “Whitecastle” had the characters - creepy guy who insists on urinating on the same bush, the Burger Shack employee, the wrongly imprisoned professor, the skateboard punks, Harold’s opportunistic co-workers, the battlesh!t twins, the racist police officer and, above all, Freakshow. That is where “Guantanamo” misses out, the characters. “Guantanamo” misses the characters. “Guantanamo” sorely misses Freakshow.

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