SMOKIN’ TOKENS 
“HAROLD & KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY”
Directed and Written by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg
Stars: John Cho, Kal Penn, Rob Corddry, Roger Bart, and Neil Patrick Harris
Rated R for strong crude and sexual content, graphic nudity, pervasive language and drug use. 100 minutes.
 

A few years ago, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle was a surprise cult hit when it hit theaters and DVD.  And now we have the inevitable sequel where the two nerdy potheads get arrested for alleged terrorism (bringing a bong on a plane that’s mistaken for a bomb) while en route to Amsterdam, the pot capital of the world. From there, it’s off to the land of the not-so-free at Guantanamo Bay.  Let the homophobic jail jokes begin!

What follows is a series of misadventures as the tokin’ twosome escape from Cuba, make it to Miami with some refugees, and travel through the Deep South towards Texas in hopes of having the fiancé of Kumar’s ex-girlfriend Vanessa (Danneel Harris) bail them out of their troubles.  Yes, it’s another uneasy rider road trip movie which allows the boys to engage in a “bottomless” party, meet some backwoods incestuous rednecks (with a Cyclops for a daughter), the KKK, and Neil Patrick Harris, the preppy-looking Bluto Blutarsky of the film.  Driving a very generic car and downing mushrooms, NPH shows up out of nowhere to rescue the boys and reward them with a trip to a local whorehouse where he engages in branding his initials, literally. 

All the while they are pursued by an overzealous (and patently offensive) Homeland Security Agent (Rob Corddry) who rounds up the boys’ parents and friends and subjects them to humiliating, degrading, and often funny interrogation sessions which gives the filmmakers a chance to mock stereotypes. 

Eventually the boys meet up with even President Bush (played by James Adomian in the world’s worst makeup job) and share a bong hit or two.  Despite some critics claiming this is an astute attack on the current administration’s terrorist policies, the rather sympathetic portrayal of Bush as a misunderstood misfit looking to relive his glory days as a frat party boy may be the most radical thing about the movie.  Most of the targets are paper lions: the KKK, incestuous rednecks, smarmy rich guys, homophobic (and closeted gay) prisoners, and overzealous government officials.

There are some undeniably funny moments, but most of the jokes, when they’re not crude and crass (bathroom humor literally kicks things off), are scattershot at best. What is there left to say about this film?  By comparison, it makes Animal House look like a genteel Frank Capra movie?  The targeted young male audience isn’t going to care, but they should.  Aside from the best efforts of NPH, Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay doesn’t have the surreal lunacy of a Repo Man or The Big Lebowski which would make it an instant classic.  Everybody’s going through the motions so much that it might end giving the audience motion sickness.

As for the performers, Cho is dull as Harold this time, but I can’t necessarily blame him entirely.  As written, he’s nothing but a constant complainer throughout.  Penn is given the backstory with Vanessa (we get to see how they met) which leads to at least one laugh-out-loud moment involving Harold’s appearance.  Since Penn is given the lion’s share of screen time, it’s really his movie; as an actor, Penn gives more than Cho does, but that’s not saying much. It’s up to old pro Neil Patrick Harris to steal the show (as he did the first time), but really in the end, it’s just petty theft.