Harold & Kumar Go To Whitecastle
Regal Falmouth #7
* * ¾ (out of 4)
Almost every gag in Harold and Kumar has been used previously in Dude, Where’s My Car or one of the American Pie movies. The difference is that no matter how risqué the joke may have been in earlier movies, here they take it three steps further, with no shame or regard for political correctness. Not surprising, considering the movie’s premise.
Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) are roommates. Both are highly intelligent, but are social opposites. Harold is caught in a dead-end job that he hates, and his personality does not allow him to stand up to the bullies at work who make him do all their work as well. Kumar is a medical genius, but a slacker in every sense of the word. His only concerns are getting high, getting laid, and having fun. One night after getting very high, the boys get an urge for a Whitecastle burger, and set out to find the fast food joint to down the need. Naturally, nothing goes quite as planned.
This is an assault on nearly every stereotype in existence. Asians, white trash, African Americans, white punks, Indians, racist cops… everyone is fair game, and the movie takes full advantage of it. It leads to some very funny punch lines, but the problem is there really isn’t much in the way of set-up. It’s just little gag after little gag, and not much in between to connect them.
In fact, there’s very little to Harold and Kumar at all. The plot is paper-thin, and there’s no real attempt to make it anything more than that. It’s throwaway, it’s pretty much pointless, but it’s also obvious that that’s precisely what the filmmakers were going for. If nothing else, it raised Cho and Penn a step or two from the sidekick roles they had in the Dude and Pie movies. Whether they’ll ever go beyond the lowbrow substance is yet to be determined. I think Cho could pull something off, but the jury is still out on Penn.
This is a forgettable, throwaway movie in the vein of American Pie but without the charm or staying power of it. It was fun for a night, but I won’t be too sad if I never see it ever again.
Regal Falmouth #7
* * ¾ (out of 4)
Almost every gag in Harold and Kumar has been used previously in Dude, Where’s My Car or one of the American Pie movies. The difference is that no matter how risqué the joke may have been in earlier movies, here they take it three steps further, with no shame or regard for political correctness. Not surprising, considering the movie’s premise.
Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) are roommates. Both are highly intelligent, but are social opposites. Harold is caught in a dead-end job that he hates, and his personality does not allow him to stand up to the bullies at work who make him do all their work as well. Kumar is a medical genius, but a slacker in every sense of the word. His only concerns are getting high, getting laid, and having fun. One night after getting very high, the boys get an urge for a Whitecastle burger, and set out to find the fast food joint to down the need. Naturally, nothing goes quite as planned.
This is an assault on nearly every stereotype in existence. Asians, white trash, African Americans, white punks, Indians, racist cops… everyone is fair game, and the movie takes full advantage of it. It leads to some very funny punch lines, but the problem is there really isn’t much in the way of set-up. It’s just little gag after little gag, and not much in between to connect them.
In fact, there’s very little to Harold and Kumar at all. The plot is paper-thin, and there’s no real attempt to make it anything more than that. It’s throwaway, it’s pretty much pointless, but it’s also obvious that that’s precisely what the filmmakers were going for. If nothing else, it raised Cho and Penn a step or two from the sidekick roles they had in the Dude and Pie movies. Whether they’ll ever go beyond the lowbrow substance is yet to be determined. I think Cho could pull something off, but the jury is still out on Penn.
This is a forgettable, throwaway movie in the vein of American Pie but without the charm or staying power of it. It was fun for a night, but I won’t be too sad if I never see it ever again.
posted by Matt S. at
7:47 PM
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