Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)
Genre: Comedy
Format Viewed: Digital Cable
Filmography links and data courtesy of The Internet Movie Database.
Every generation deserves its stoner flick…
I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Harold & Kumar – being that I wasn’t under the influence of any mind-altering substances when I sat down to witness this excellent adventure, but it surprisingly wasn’t too bad. Maybe it’d have been even better had I ever actually tasted the cuisine of White Castle before watching, but Indianapolis seemed a little far to travel for mini-hamburgers…
We’ll pause for just a moment to give the thousands of White Castle enthusiasts time to send their e-mails to me explaining that I’m “clearly insane because White Castle’s mini-hamburger brilliance is so good that they’d walk from Tampa to Indianapolis and back five times barefoot over broken glass all the while dueling against a rabid polar bear in heat just for an evening’s meal.” Apparently, they’re quite good.
And also surprisingly, this movie ended up being pretty tasty, too, which I didn’t see coming, but certainly welcomed after a long and stressful day of doing whatever the heck it is that I do all day! Of course, I was pleasantly reminded of all the previous stoner flicks that we’ve enjoyed over the years – from Cheech & Chong: Up in Smoke to Dazed and Confused, Half Baked and one of my personal favorites, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. So I realized that Harold & Kumar is simply the next movie in the series – the next generation of marijuana-induced entertainment, and that’s great. Just don’t forget the munchies before you sit down…
All in all I enjoyed this flick because it seemed to be a lot of fun and the plot never got so completely far out there that I just completely lost interest – there may have been a couple of important saves, but nothing too detrimental, that’s for sure. See, that’s the exact problem that I had with Dude, Where’s My Car? – the movie got so far out into left field that they might as well have been playing at the next stadium over, and for all those who say that you had to be baked to enjoy that one, you may be right, but rest assured that the studio execs that sank millions into making it certainly weren’t banking on such a limited audience! Weed or no weed, you’ve still got to have a plot that doesn’t sound like it was written by a five-year-old just shouting random things as they come to mind. The story was simple, and that really worked for me.
One note – I did come into this a bit concerned about Kal Penn (Kumar), as I honestly just didn’t really care for his latest appearances in National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, but then again, I guess looking back I didn’t really care for that movie as a whole, so it’s tough to hold any one specific person to that particular blight! But the man pulled through, wasn’t too over the top, and ended up being the perfect compliment to John Cho’s Harold character – a nice combination, really. They did throw in a few guest appearances along the way – nothing too crazy – but it certainly gives you another perspective on Doogie’s private life, that’s for sure!
While it may not have exactly been the hilarious, end-all comedy of the year…or of 2004, anyways…but it put a smile on my face for nearly an hour and a half and by today’s standards, that’s more than a lot of them have been doing lately! A couple of well-placed gems had me laughing my head off, and I didn’t even have to be stoned to enjoy the rest – not bad for an otherwise crazy day’s work.
Of course, now those hamburgers actually are sounding pretty good…
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
