When news broke that a sequel to 2004’s Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle was in the works, fans rejoiced. With the duo about to head to Amsterdam – the marijuana-smoking capital of the world – the stage was set for Harold and Kumar Go to Amsterdam. But after the initial high, details were hazy, and fans were left to wonder what Harold and Kumar would do in Amsterdam (besides smoke a lot of weed).
The lack of plotlines probably became apparent to co-creators Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg as well, so plans changed. Pot became prison, and Harold and Kumar Go to Amsterdam became Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.
Ridiculous? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely.
John Cho (Ugly Betty) and Kal Penn (House) reprise their roles in a sequel that doesn’t quite match the charm and humor of its predecessor but still manages to provide yet another wild pot-smoking ride. It’s hard to follow up White Castle, a film filled with quotable lines, ridiculously funny scenarios and the revitalization of Neil Patrick Harris’s (How I Met Your Mother) career. The film become an cult classic.
Guantanamo Bay follows a similar path as White Castle, picking up literally right where the film left off. The film opens with Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World” and a montage of Harold in the shower dreaming about his kiss with Maria (Paula Garcés, CSI: Miami) at the end of White Castle, and we discover the duo is set to head to Amsterdam so Harold can chase her. Even though it’s been four years since the first film and Penn looks drastically older, Guantanamo Bay still tries to maintain continuity from the previous film. Harold still has the scar above his eye he obtained in the first film and Kumar has his medical school interview in a few hours (which he skips, of course).
Soon, the duo is boarding the airplane – after running into Kumar’s ex-girlfriend Vanessa (Danneel Harris, One Tree Hill) – and Harold goes to the bathroom. Kumar joins Harold and whips out an invention of his, “the smokeless bong,” so they can – of course – smoke up in the airplane. A woman sees Kumar smoking, thinks it’s a bomb (duh, he’s brown) and yells, “Terrorist!”
Then, in a plot similar to White Castle’s, Harold and Kumar get sent to Guantanamo Bay as suspected terrorists, and their crazy journey from the previous night continues as they break out and attempt to clear their names.
The pair encounter a kind redneck family, a Ku Klux Klan party and, wonderfully, Harris, who reprises his role as a misogynistic, drug-taking caricature of himself.
Cho and Penn are in top form in the sequel, but Harris again steals the show. Daily Show veteran Rob Corddry (Semi-Pro) plays Secretary Ron Fox, the ignorant, racist, oblivious and idiotic U.S. government official intent on capturing Harold and Kumar and sending them back to Guantanamo. Corddry is funny, although his character’s absurdity can be a bit grating at times.
One of the best scenes in the film – without giving too much away – is a flashback to Harold and Kumar’s college days, during which Kumar met Vanessa.
If anything, it’s interesting to see Kumar in a new light, which becomes a central theme of the film. It’s also a sort of allegory for how people think about the government, how the government works and how more people than you think smoke marijuana. Through the laughs, Hurwitz and Schlossberg are trying to say something about what it means to be an American, and they do a good job of getting their point across.
Otherwise, Guantanamo Bay is a rapid assault of crude humor and action, all a bit more extreme and a bit more outrageous than the first movies. While the film doesn’t quite capture the magic of White Castle, Escape from Guantanamo Bay is a sufficient sequel to a nearly perfect comedy. The laughs aren’t as plentiful and the one-liners aren’t as quotable, but it’s still an enjoyable ride.
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