Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle
Cast
N/A
Rater #1
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rater #2
5/10. Do you smoke pot? Neither do I, but to enjoy a stoner comedy, you
don't need to be high. In fact, you don't even need to see the main
characters smoke to understand that they're potheads. Think of Bill
and Ted's Excellent Adventure, or even all of the late night tokes
that have been taken while watching Scooby-Doo, with that perpetual
pothead Shaggy. One that takes the stoner movie from its almost
innocent counterparts into the teen movie genre of the 80s that we
all know and love is Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. It's the
type of movie that advertises that its director also directed Dude,
Where's My Car, and thinks that touting that an actor was in Van
Wilder is a good thing. That's exactly the type of movie White
Castle is. It's for those who like stuff like Dude (which I didn't
see).
Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) are stereotypes of their
respective races. Harold is a milquetoast investment banker who
can't stand up for himself, and Kumar is training to be an M.D., but
doesn't really think anything of it. After some Friday night pot
smoking, the two roommates crave White Castle burgers. They travel
around in their car, smoking the occasional weed (until they run
out), and getting into all sorts of trouble looking for the infamous
24/7 White Castle in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. They meet Neil Patrick
Harris, aka Doogie Hauser, get in trouble with the law, and other
partially drug-induced scenarios.
White Castle has its moments. By far the funniest bit of the film
was Kumar's fantasy involving a huge bag of marijuana. A couple
other bits are humorous, but are either too obvious or stretched out
away from its potential. When they need to get a ride, they
hitchhike with a horribly disfigured man. They whisper to each other
about how disgusting he looks. Isn't that about the most obvious
joke you could use? And, although the main characters aren't as much
like the aforementioned teen comedies, it's sickeningly refreshing
to see women put into a misogynist style. I'm not promoting sexism,
but in such movies as American Pie (where Cho stars), the women
always outsmart the men. But the awkwardness and the natural
chemistry of the two stars work to the movie's advantage, and
instead of making the characters the stereotypes others make them
out to be, they create three-dimensional characters. That's not
saying that everything in the script was as well developed. The
relationships that the main characters have with their "love
interests", for instance, are barely fleshed out. There's a few
humorous scenes with them (love that "baggage" scene), but nothing
spectacular.
The no-holds-barred feel of the movie worked both to its advantage
and to its disadvantage. We see nudity usually not shown in teen
comedies now, we have some bad taste (and not all of it sexual, like
Pie), and we have lots of drug usage. Most movies now shy away from
that, and it's this lack of boundaries that give this movie a free
spirit, I suppose. A place to go where no recent teen comedy has
gone before. But on the flip side, we have huge defecation contests
and random grotesqueness. I don't expect everything to be tasteful,
but it still takes away from the movie. And is Fred Willard
contractually obligated to star in every comedy of late? I love the
guy, but why not give, say, Chevy Chase or someone a chance? I did
like that scene, though. It, like most of the other hit-or-miss
humor, comes obviously but is pulled off in a good way. Some of the
humor is even subtle (see the shirt that Harold, I believe, wears in
his apartment). But since this humor is hit-or-miss, it obviously
either hits or misses. Many times it misses, but when it hits, it
ain't exactly a bulls-eye. Just enough to keep you from walking out
of the theater. And with the box office results of this movie, they
need to keep as many people in the theater as possible.
Rated R for strong language, sexual content, drug use and some crude
humor.
Running time: ? minutes
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