When “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” first arrived it was a blast of fresh air. It was an R-rated comedy with two non-white leads with the entire plot centered around two very stoned guys who get the munchies and go on a quest for some sliders. Simple, stupid and very successful. But whatever unique flavor that film had was immediately traded in for just being another run-of-the-mill raunch fest, as the unfunny, nearly unwatchable sequel “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” just tried to go for extreme gross-out gags with one as unfunny as the last. Which brings us to the latest effort, “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas,” which pretty much plays as yet another sub-“The Hangover” stab at being provocatively funny.
First off, joking that 3D is over in the trailer doesn’t forgive the fact the movie is unnecessarily and obnoxiously in three dimensions, with plans to make ping pong balls, flying teeth and probably boobs fly by your face. Anyway, the story, such as it is, finds our two leads shooting Santa in the face and then going on a quest for a replacement for Harold’s Dad’s prize Christmas tree after they accidentally torch it. Neil Patrick Harris is still sleazily alive, things get Claymated and somebody says Avatarded because it was probably culturally relevant when Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg wrote the script. Anyway, aside from feeling rather stale this also just looks pretty bad with poorly shot and cheap looking sets — it seems like they made it for less money than the first film.
Anyway, it will arrive with plenty of time to catch the holiday crowds looking for cheap, easy laughs. It opens on November 4th.
