 KSL Movie Show Review:...
HAROLD & KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY ** By Steve Salles Standard Examiner movie critic GO: if you loved the first film and can’t wait to see what these idiots have planned this time around DON’T GO: if you thought Harold & Kumar was an upscale clothing store Harold & Kumar have certainly upped the ante in this sequel to “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” - with more nudity, more sexual content, more play off of racial stereotyping and more toilet humor - but more political commentary? Didn’t see that coming, although the new title suggests a possible poke in the government eye with a very sharp nerf stick. The story picks up right at the end of the first with H & K still reeling from a night of debauchery and hamburger devouring. Harold (John Cho) is having a shower fantasy about the hot girl next door. He’s the straight-laced, driven corporate climber who dreams of the day when he and his Brooks Brothers’ suits can have that perfect job and perfect wife. His moment of joy is interrupted by Kumar (Kal Penn) who is having a vile “Dumb & Dumber” porcelain demolition moment right next to him. Apparently, eating thirty hamburgers didn’t sit well. Kumar is the premed genius who is none too eager to grow up. He would prefer to smoke his beloved weed and chase his even more beloved babes. They are both off to Amsterdam for one last fling before they’re forced to become contributing members of society. However, the supposed genius has brought a new invention with him on the plane, a smokeless bong he hopes to try out in the bathroom during the flight. An already nervous old passenger has marked Kumar as a possible terrorist and when she catches a glimpse of him trying to light up this strange device - she thinks explosives - and it’s funny how “bong” sounds like “bomb” when you’re cruising at 35,000 feet. Air marshals descend, both Harold and Kumar are cuffed and they find themselves in an interrogation room with the world’s most zealous Homeland Security bigot, Agent Fox (Rob Corddry), who believes he’s hit the mother lode - a “North Korean” and an “Al-Qaida” working together. Off to Gitmo they go where they are about to face the indignity of performing unspeakables on a security guard called Big Bob when all hell breaks loose and the two find themselves escaping and bound for America with a boatload of Cubans. Once there, they decide the only person that can help them is marrying Kumar’s former girlfriend in a few days in Texas and thus the most unlikely of road trips begins. They will drop in on a bottomless party in Miami, fear a group of black dentists playing street ball in Alabama, come across a redneck and his inbred family with surprisingly good taste in furnishings, not to mention a campfire chat with the KKK, all before they get to Texas and share a blunt with Dubya himself who is tired of taking orders from his daddy. And I haven’t even mentioned Neil Patrick Harris who reprises his role from the first film as a hard drinking, hard loving tough guy. It’s an oddly ambitious film that’s about as lewd and crude as you could ever imagine, but manages to make it’s points about the insensitivity of racial stereotyping by showing glaring examples of same. Somehow, “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” manages to occasionally work and has a few laughs along the way, but it’s so over the top in shock value that you may not be able or willing to see the forest for the trees. THE FILM: “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” OUR RATING: ** STARRING: John Cho, Kal Penn, Rob Corddry, Jack Conley and Neil Patrick Harris BEHIND THE SCENES: Written and directed by Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg in their feature film directorial debuts - also wrote “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” - filmed in Amsterdam and Shreveport. PLAYING: Running time: 102 minutes MPAA RATING: R movies at a glance: HAROLD & KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY ** (R) strong crude and sexual content, graphic nudity, pervasive language and drug use. If you didn’t see the first Harold & Kumar movie, you probably shouldn’t start with this one. It has such strong sexual and crude content that you may not be able to see passed it for the bits of humor and commentary that are hidden within. However, for H & K fans - you’ll likely laugh your tail off.
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