Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay
“Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay” is an uneven and too-long but occasionally hilarious sequel to 2004’s “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.” The new film bounces between the raunchy and the relevant, the profane and the political, like Homer Simpson at a bake sale.
Investment-banker Harold Lee (John Cho) and med-student friend Kumar Patel (Kal Penn) are off to Amsterdam to win the heart of Maria (Paula Garces), the woman on whom Harold was crushing big time in the first film. But the would-be romantic European getaway is hijacked by events, as well as H&K’s dorky stupidity.
The trouble they get into is enough to get them hauled off the plane, branded as terrorists and sent to detention at Guantanamo Bay. They flee, first to South Florida, then to Central Texas, in search of help in getting their reputations back.
As with “White Castle,” much of the humor is about as sophisticated as a college kegger. Within the opening minutes, there’s a brief, sex-related sight gag that no doubt will repulse as many viewers as it entertains. Their pal Neil Patrick Harris, once again playing the Bizarro version of himself, returns with an even bigger sexual appetite. And the whole men-in-prison scenario plays out like “Oz” meets “Beavis and Butt-head.”
Such moments are cheek-by-jowl with a goofball skewering of racial profiling, the Patriot Act, radical Muslim terrorists and life in general in these panicky times. Like with “White Castle,” Cho and Penn’s mere presence as young, Asian-American guys - still a rarity in terms of Hollywood leading men - sets “Guantanamo Bay” apart from other slob comedies.
This film is rated R for sexual content, nudity, strong language, drug use, and crude humor. Running time: 102 minutes.
Tags: comedy, Reviews