Harold and Kumar Escape Guantanamo Bay (Kingsgate Film/New Line Cinema 2008)
by Zedian 
What would we do without the sub genre of comedy itself known as the “stoner comedy”? For years as it seems this style of movie tends to be written off like an unwanted rural half-brother. Lately though that has tend to change as it is now enjoying a renaissance of late. Weed’s public profile is at an all-time high, so much to the point where I wouldn’t be surprise if good old G.W. dogg himself sitting in the White House really does enjoy a good blunt every so often to blow off some steam.
There was a time when movies that played to stupid humor and revolved themselves around the green herb weren't looked at as relevant. The days of sneaking into “Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke” after buying a ticket to “Grease” are over. From “Friday” and “Dazed and Confused” to “Super Troopers” and the upcoming “Pineapple Express,” call the hippies because bud is back. One of the movies that contributed to this cinematic rebirth was 2004’s “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle,” a surprisingly agreeable flick that stood behind the titular faces (John Cho and Kal Penn) on a bong-fueled quest for yummy-greasy sliders and a bucket of fries. The sequel which doesn’t sport a name as fun on the tongue, “Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” picks up the action immediately afterwards which I found to be nice. It’s been a long four years.
So here we go. The two are preparing for their trip to Amsterdam, where Harold hopes to connect with his hot ass neighbor Maria. So while onboard their plane to the weed capital of the world things go a little awry. Kumar (Who just couldn’t fucken wait) unveils his new invention: a smokeless bong that just happens to look like a bomb. Post-9/11 paranoia begins to settle in as some old lady is fast to point them out. By the time we know it the boys are snapped up by the authorities and end up in our finest Cuban gulag.
The title is a bit misleading, as the pair spends only about 10 minutes of film time actually detained in/escaping from Guantanamo. Pretty much they trek from Miami to Texas, in an effort to seek assistance from Harold’s friend Colton while ruining his marriage to Kumar’s old college flame Vanessa.
This pretty much is the set-up – as in the first movie – for some excuses for our heroes to have a series of excellent unlikely
| "It is my theory that the metric by which any comedy must be measured is in the number of laughs provided, and “Harold and Kumar” does deliver." |
adventures. They see it all from a “bottomless” pool party to a KKK rally to meeting the President of the United States himself . And thank your little stars there is even another encounter with an exceedingly randy Neil Patrick Harris. They’re pursued all the while by the U.S. Government, led by the belligerent Ron Fox (Rob Corddry), an Assistant Secretary of something important in the U.S. Government and stands tall as a representation of official American belligerence and stupidity.
It is my theory that the metric by which any comedy must be measured is in the number of laughs provided, and “Harold and Kumar” does deliver. It isn’t family fare, by any stretch of the imagination, I mean we get the standard offering of gratuitous nudity, toilet humor, and scenes designed purely to offend are simply called for the order of the day. We even get a slight hint of education as I never knew how they would handle detainees in Guantanamo with such a brash/startling torture technique. And while similar gross-out efforts are often presented with a good deal more cruelty, writer/directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg aren’t particular interested in getting the knife stuck right in unless the characters in question truly deserve it.
I think with the current term of George W. Bush coming to a close, I admit I had more qualms than sheds of light with the guy over his eight-year tenure but hell in “Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” I think I found something, that hell after these past 8 years, G.W. himself is actually a pretty cool guy to smoke dope with.
Part of the movie’s appeal is that H & K veer from the path of their stoner I-knew-that-was-going-to-happens. They’re not 
smirking delinquents like Jay and Silent Bob, or aging hippies like Cheech and Chong trying to cling on to their youth. No. Harold is gainfully employed, and Kumar’s lack of motivation in pursuing a medical career isn’t so much drug-related as it is a result of daddy issues. These two just have a need for weed and for that it is more of an adjunct to their existence than the primary motivator of this film’s ambitions, it just stays as an element to push the film’s events forward.
There are a few misfires, no doubt about it and some of the gags I’ll even say fall a little flat by seeming somewhat forced, but generally speaking your enjoyment of the movie won’t necessarily hinge upon the number of bowls smoked. Harold and Kumar aren’t the first couple of guys to go “up in smoke” on the big screen, but they may very well be the funniest damn duo their is.
| Visuals: | 7.0 for Kumar's ass |
| Sound: | 7.4 |
| Cast: | 9.0 |
| Plot: | 8.0 |
