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IT’S BEEN THREE YEARS SINCE best buds Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) busted out of prison and Neil Patrick Harris rode a psychedelic unicorn to Heaven. In any sane and decent world, Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay (2008) would have been the last we’d ever see of this latter-day Bill and Ted.
After all, that film boasted a bottomless pool party and the duo puffing weed with George W. Bush. There’s really no place else to go from there, is there? Well, how about a baby on drugs? Or a penis frozen onto a pole? Or Santa Claus getting shot in the face? In this threequel, Harold and Kumar have drifted apart.
Harold’s enjoying a job on Wall Street, a house in the ‘burbs, and an attractive wife (Paula Garces). Kumar, on the other hand, is still the same old slacker, a med-school drop-out who lives in a battered apartment.
They haven’t seen each other in years, but when a mysterious package for Harold shows up on Kumar’s doorstep, it kicks off a series of adventures that reunites the fellas and makes use of H&K’s blend of raucous raunch-com and narcotic surrealism.
Directed by music-video wiz Todd Strauss-Schulson, this kinetic pastiche bounces along, but never quite reaches the dizzy delirium of the first two films. The 3D is mostly limited to an opening egg attack and a recurring bit where marijuana smoke snakes over the audience’sheads. S-w-e-e-e-t…
A hyperactive sequel as over-the-top as the season to which it pays tribute. Good times for fans, less so for non-lovers of low-brow.
