Kelsey's Review

Summary - Very Good 3.5

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay isn’t quite as good as the previous film, but as far as sequels go it is one of the better ones and is a very funny and enjoyable movie overall. It follows almost immediately after the first Harold and Kumar movie. It is still that same morning as Harold and Kumar are on their way to Amsterdam so Harold can be with his long time crush and now potential girlfriend, Maria (Garcés). Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay follows certain patterns and elements of the first film while still emerging with a tone original from the first. The film is almost more of a political comedy than anything as it makes an example of the endless racial profiling, racism, and stereotypes that are around us even in the land of the free.
Much like in the first film Harold and Kumar’s troubles start with weed, the very thing that they love so much. Kumar sneaks some on to the plane with him. At first he manages to get past the airport security, but he begins to take advantage of this. Kumar takes out a creation of his: a bong he made that makes the smoke smell like Lysol. When a paranoid old lady sees this though, she mistakes this for a terrorist bomb. Panic emerges through out the whole plane and it is seen as an attempt to highjack it. Deputy Frye (Corddry) is so sure that they are anti-American, that he refuses to listen to a word that they say and deprives them of any rights or decency by sending them to Guantanamo Bay. Here they have encounters with real terrorists but find out that they should really be scared of the guards there. Every day, they demand that the prisoners give them a “cock and meat sandwich”. They manage to escape from this just in time though.
From here they manage to get a car from their friend and start heading towards Texas. They think there might be some chance that they can get help out of their situation there. The guy who helped Harold get his job, Conner (Winter), is staying there and he also has connections with George W. Bush. Kumar does have ulterior motives though. Conner is getting married to Kumar’s ex-girlfriend from college, Vanessa (Harris). Kumar never really got over her though and after seeing her the other day, he wants nothing more than to make her his again. On their way to Texas though, they run in to quite a few obstacles. They have to abandon their car in fear of being attacked in Birmingham, Alabama. They encounter a hunter and end up staying with his Cyclopes son. They even end up running in to Neil Patrick Harris, which may have gone better on a few conditions. For one thing Neil has been doing shrooms and drinking alcohol like crazy, while driving. Not to mention the mayhem he causes at a whore house that he insists that they stop at along the way, nearly gets them killed. Also, at this time Harold and Kumar are still trying to run from the law who are getting closer and closer to them.

Acting - Very Good 3.5

Kal Penn and John Cho give us the same old Harold and Kumar here. They both hit the comedy right on and work off of everyone in the film no matter what crazy situation their characters are in at that moment. One thing that was really great here was their character’s growth, but especially Harold’s. He held on to that new found strength that he had at the end of the first film. He is more assertive and tries to take charge more of the time. Neil Patrick Harris was hilarious as always in the cameo as himself, which is most likely nothing like his true self. So recognition on the acting is still due here to be such a convincing selfish, coincided player. He is on a whole new scale of perversion and he crosses the line, getting Harold and Kumar in even more trouble. On the other hand, we are given a little bit more on him. His one soft spot is a girl who got away from him just as Kumar’s Vanessa has. I am happy to say that Daneel Harris is a great addition to the film as well. Harris plays a very different character than hers in One Tree Hill. She is much more sympathetic and likeable her and I appreciate her doing something new and bringing a lot to the table including a charming spark and a heart deserving of Kumar. Rob Corddry had a very ridiculous character as the Deputy, but played to every one of those stereotypes and power plays that he had in him. Roger Bart who gave a great and unexpected turn to Hostel Part II, tried to balance Corddry’s character out. He could actually see the absurdity to the situation and that Harold and Kumar were obviously innocent and just victims of a misunderstanding.

Film - Good 3.0

As I mentioned, Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay goes the political route all the way. They cover everything from the KKK to President Bush to simple assumptions of race from middle eastern countries to jews to blacks. The President Bush scene is one of the funnier ones. James Adomian gives a great impression of him. Hypocritical things that he does come up, but he really isn’t made out to be a bad guy, but rather just a kid under the mercy of his father. Kumar can really relate to him on this, which is one reason why he hasn’t really done anything with his life yet; he wants to do it on his own terms rather than giving his father the satisfaction of thinking it was because he wanted Kumar to.

Edge - Horrid 3.7

A lot of the same drug, sex, and gross out humar is used as well as the strangely loveable vulgarity that Harold and Kumar show. Also, just the relationship between these two has become so much fun to watch. The second time around, Harold and Kumar are still the same guys we loved from the first film. So if you liked the first, get ready for this wild ride with Harold and Kumar escaping from Guantanamo Bay and everything crazy stop in between.

Reality - Natural 1.0

It is a little coincidental that Harold and Kumar would run in to all of the people that they did at certain times, who happen to lead them to others and eventually Texas, where they were venturing. However, it isn’t too over the top and typically every action that happens does affect another one. Some of the assumptions based on race are funny but true. For instance, acts of terrorism are grouped with anyone with dark skin. Kumar and his family are Indian, yet are pinned this way. It also shows the other side of this, terrorist seeing themselves as heroes. There are certain issues that the film deals with, but it does this by making fun of things to expose how ridiculous that they are. Yes, their whole situation was because of the bong that Kumar brought on the plane, but more than that it happened because everyone assumed the worse and wouldn’t even listen for a chance that they may be proved wrong.

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