Movie: Harold & Kumar – Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Director: Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg

Production: Warner Bros.

The sequel to the highly successful Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle was quite possibly one of the most anticipated movies of this year. It hit theatres last Friday and audiences everywhere are flocking to see it. The modern day Cheech and Chong is Harold and Kumar, the first film was based on the antidotes of the aftermath of weed intoxication, what is commonly called the munchies, adds to a hilarious sequence of events that follow the escapades of two highly strung individuals throughout scenes of hilarious dilemmas and situations just to get to the fast food restaurant, White Castle. Now the sequel follows right after the ending to the first film, audiences assumed that the sequel would be twice as funny with the two traveling to Amsterdam to follow Harold’s love interest Maria, however the director figured it’d be best to change the script and add a different twist instead of portraying an all out European trip for the next film.

John Cho returns to reprise his role as the intelligent, yet paranoid character, Harold Lee, while Kal Penn also reprises his role as the smart-talking Kumar Patel. Neil Patrick Harris returns as well to reprise the same role as he did in the first, playing himself, the former child actor of Doogie Howser, M.D. series that aired in the 80’s. The beginning of the picks up where it first left off in the original installment, both Harold and Kumar pack for their trip to Amsterdam to follow Maria, Harold’s love interest. It’s humorous to see how filmmakers would depict Kumar’s character in a character development of mistaken identity as they added comedic value into his race. While on their way to Amsterdam, certain passengers assume that he is a terrorist, including a very spooked old lady. Somehow during the flight, while Harold is using the bathroom, Kumar has the urge to get high and decide it’d be best to light in the bathroom with a innovative creation he calls the “smokeless bong.” Apparently, Harold not wanting to be a part of Kumar’s scheme leaves the bathroom and forgets to shut the door. A reflection in the bathroom mirror convinces that same old lady that he setting fire with his lighter to something that looks like a bomb. In a state of shock, she screams out in terror and causes panic on the plane. Kumar steps out the bathroom and tries to calm the people down explaining to them that it is merely a ‘bong’ not a ‘bomb,’ apparently his word was overtaken by the word bomb and was immediately tackled to the floor by an undercover U.S. Air Marshal, along with Harold. This leads to them to being questioned by what seems like an overzealous undersecretary of Homeland Security who accuses them of being Al-Qaeda and North Korea reconnaissance. After the interrogation, the undersecretary is convinced that they are terrorist operatives and sends them to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where they are to remain as prisoners. Before they were about to enjoy a ‘cock meat sandwich,’ they managed to ‘easily’ escape the Alcatraz of Cuba, how convenient? After their escape, it begins the mission to clear their names and set themselves free of the clutches of the government. The situations they get themselves into is hilarious, this is what makes the film worth watching. Not to spoil the rest of the movie, it contains a lot of twists and plenty of comedic antidotes before they solve their problem. Just know, the ending is unexpected.   

On the real, you’re going to have to visualize and listen to the comedic quirks yourself. It contains a lot of dark comedy, but it will definitely keep you laughing. As in the first part, the plot is rushed as well, but the dialogue makes up for it. Get use to the amounts of weed contained in the film.