(2008)**1/2
On route to Amsterdan Harold and Kumar get into a jam on an airplane and faster than you can say the title of this film the two are whisked off to Guantanamo Bay, where the they spend approximately 5 minutes in jail. After a ridiculous escape and an illegal boat ride back to the U.S., the two find themselves on the run from the FBI who are under the impression that the two nitwits are terrorists. High jinks ensue.
There has been some negative feedback about this film but I believe that the spirit of the stoner movie is alive and well represented in Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. Stupid, yes, but funny stupid, oh hell yes. The first bong makes its appearnace 11 minutes in. By minute 21 the two potheads have escaped from Guantanamo Bay. 45 minutes in we’re treated to a bottomless party, that’s right, bottomless (for those who watched the unrated version) and believe me, there’s plenty of female heinie and female front heinie. By minute 80ish the titular characters are smoking the wacky weed with President Bush, yep, it’s that kind of film.
While it’s in no way a masterpiece (more gags fail than succeed and the film gets too stupid for it’s own good at times), it is a “road movie”, which I’m a sucker for. As the two attempt to get across the country to Texas, where Harold has a friend who just might be able to help the boys out of a jam, the two encounter plenty of offbeat characters, boobs, gunfire, and yes weed*. Perhaps I was just in the mood for a silly movie, perhaps it was the 2 glasses of wine I consumed on an empty stomach while watching it, but this film hit all the right notes for me. As was the case in the first Harold and Kumar caper, Neil Patrick Harris steals the spotlight in his all-too-brief cameo. When I watch this again some day will I still believe it’s funny? Probably not (I’m looking at you Wayne’s World and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Austin Powers...), but I must admit, I chuckled throughout. If I had one criticism it would be that Kumar is too unlikable (see also (Miranda from Sex and the City), which makes it all the more difficult to believe that Harold, or Kumar’s girlfriend, would ever deal with him in the long run. In fact, every problem the two encounter in the film is the result of Kumar choosing selfishness over friendship. Still, the chemistry works for me for some reason.
*On a personal note, JPX has never tried weed and he has never been high, so when people talk about weed he smiles and nods his head knowingly when in reality he has no idea what the hell they’re talking about.
7 comments:
Hmmm, we seem to have a difference of opinion here. Let's have an old school "Crossfire" debate on the merits, or lack thereof, of Harold and Kumar Esca...eh, nevermind.
I might have been harder on it then necessary, considering the hour. But I definitely didn't chuckle throughout.
I have never seen Harold and Kumar or the sequel, but your review made me laugh, JPX.
I also like that you've never been high.
I'm gonna go with DCD in this case as I didn't like the first one (aside from the dancing bag of weed.) It would be nice to hear a 3rd opinion though. Anyone? Anyone?
We interrupt Stonerthon,
By Chris Joyner, USA TODAY
JACKSON, Miss. — Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman was in a hospital in Memphis, on Monday after being injured in a car accident near his home in Mississippi.
Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Kathy Stringer said Freeman, 71, is in serious condition. The hospital is about 90 miles north of the accident scene in rural Tallahatchie County in the Mississippi Delta.
Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Ben Williams said Freeman was driving a 1997 Nissan Maxima belonging to Demaris Meyer of Memphis when the car left a rural highway and flipped several times shortly before midnight Sunday.
"There's no indication that either alcohol or drugs were involved," Williams said. He said both Freeman and Meyer were wearing seat belts. The woman's condition was not immediately available.
Freeman was airlifted to the hospital in Tennessee.
Clay McFerrin, editor of Sun Sentinel in Charleston, said he arrived at the accident scene on Mississippi Highway 32 soon after it happened about 5 miles west of Charleston, not far from where Freeman owns a home with his wife.
McFerrin said it appeared that Freeman's car was airborne when it left the highway and landed in a ditch.
"They had to use the jaws of life to extract him from the vehicle," McFerrin said. "He was lucid, conscious. He was talking, joking with some of the rescue workers at one point."
McFerrin said bystanders converged on the scene trying to get a glimpse of the actor.
When one person tried to snap a photo with a cellphone camera, Freeman joked, "no freebies, no freebies," McFerrin said.
Freeman won an Oscar for his role in Million Dollar Baby. His screen credits also include The Shawshank Redemption,Driving Miss Daisy and The Dark Knight, now in theaters.
He was born in Memphis, but spent much of his childhood in the Mississippi Delta. He is a co-owner of the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale.
The hospital where Freeman is being treated is commonly known as The Med, and is an acute-care teaching facility that serves patients within 150 miles of Memphis.
wait a minute: "Freeman was driving a 1997 Nissan Maxima"? what the hell! it may be demaris meyer's car, but morgan freeman deserves a sweeter ride even when he's borrowing.
I loved the first one and after all the bad press, reluctantly watched the next one just to realize that 5 min. in I was going to love it too. I also was reminded 5 min. in that critics feed off of each other and would be afraid to recommend 2 stoner movies in a row. It's much more sheik to say a sequel is trash esp. if it's a stoner movie right?
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