Harold & Kumar 2 Movie Review

Apparently, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay is a lot more amusing if watched while under the influence of herbal narcotics.  Quite frankly, it would have to be.  This is the kind of film that makes Dude, Where’s My Car look like an inspired piece of filmmaking.  The argument that it is a weed comedy and shouldn’t be judged through conventional means however, doesn’t fully hold up, as other films of the ilk, like Smiley Face, are highly amusing while sober or drunk. 

Following the mass White Castle binge at the end of the original Harold & Kumar film, with Harold (John Cho) taking a shower as Kumar (Kal Penn) takes a tumultuous dump next to him, while remarking on Harold’s “pubes”.  Soon after, the pair decide to board a plane to Amsterdam to find Harold’s dream gal Maria (Paula Garces), but not before Kumar has a morning jerk off. 

Unsurprisingly, while the pair is on the plane, Kumar is mistaken for a terrorist, as his smokeless bong resembles a bomb.  After being interrogated by Ron Fox (Rob Corddry), they are sentenced to imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay. 

When they are inevitably asked to fellate a burly prison guard with a stinky penis, a stroke of luck finds them escaping and hitching a ride back to America with some illegal immigrants.  What follows is a series of bizarre happenings as Harold & Kumar try to regain their identities and find their way to Amsterdam.

These bizarre happenings involve a bottomless vagina party, where it is suggested that someone’s pubic region resembles Osama Bin Laden’s beard.  There is also a KKK rally, inbred southern hicks with a mutant baby and high speed internet and a bordello run by Beverly D’Angelo, where Doogie Howser likes to brand whores with his initials. 

While it is possible, and very likely, that potheads will find a great deal of humour in the scatological humour and obvious racial stereotypes, everyone else will be reflecting fondly at how witty crappy American sit-coms are in comparison.  

Additional frustration comes from the characters themselves, as Kumar appears to be mentally retarded.  His motivations and ideologies are so far removed from reality that identification and empathy are nearly impossible.  It’s actually tempting from an audience identification standpoint to root against him, hoping that he will be thrown back in prison and forgotten about.  However, this desire is curved by the additional annoyance of his nemesis, Ron Fox.  Rob Corddry succeeds in his attempts to be obnoxious in this role, which unfortunately leads to a lack of comedy.  He has a Jar-Jar Binks quality to him in this movie that doesn’t serve him well. 

Potheads will likely enjoy H&K2, as it’s completely non-sensical and may have some mysterious subtext and meaning that can only be revealed while stoned.