I came into this movie with high expectations. My girlfriends sister was performing a skit based upon the film and, apparently, I just had to watch it to see what it was all about. This, added to the 7.1 score on the IMDb, and the fact that most people just guffaw knowingly whenever the film is mentioned, made me rather enthusiastic about catching up on what everyone else knew to be a 'good thing'. My God are people stupid.
It probably could have been great. Possibly. The idea of writing your two male leads as members of minorities not often seen in the American media (unless they're playing restaurant owners, Kwik-E Mart employees or Doctors) is a clever one, and the loose, stoner angle also added a degree of unprecedented new ground to the characters. Cho and Penn are also on the up, having starred in the likes of American Pie and Van Wilder between them, and have a large fanbase of what I can only presume are people with very low personal standards. With the right script and director who could utilise their 'talents' accordingly, it could have been a very profitable and entertaining movie. Again, it could have been.
What you actually have is a mess. A terrifyingly boring rehash of every other drink/drugs movie you could ever think of, with a lame road-trip plot thrown into the mix. There seems to be some unwritten rule of US comedy writing that if you're preparing a script which will feature young people, preferably students, then their antics always have to be 'whacky' and the events must take place over as short a period of time as possible, congruent with some terrible fate should they not complete whatever it is they're supposed to do in the time allotted. All Harold and Kumar have to do is get to White Castle, which is at least fittingly small-scale, though the frequent detours the unfortunate pair make are neither amusing nor of any interest. I actually hoped that they'd have a pleasant drive to White Castle, and then sit down and enjoy their food without incident. All spread out over the course of 90 or so minutes. It honestly would have been funnier.
Cho and Penn are also rather handicapped by the fact that they are terrible actors, and that they only ever stumble upon funny purely by accident, the way one might accidentally tread in a cowpat when one walks in a field. In this kind of film it's unavoidable, but they try their best to be as lame as possible whenever the opportunity arises. While their natural talents are sorely lacking, a decent director might have been able to force them into the odd well-delivered line or set-piece, but not Leiner. The man who directed Dude, Where's my Car? has no business directing traffic, let alone another movie. He frequently sets the wrong tone for his scenes and edits away too quickly or too slowly whenever he feels this would weaken the film most.
That a sequel has been greenlit for 2007 shows that is must have amused some people, idiots presumably, and you never know, it might actually strike gold this time. I'm going to bet no on it though. Watch this space |
