While I enjoyed Get The Munchies (or Go To White Castle in the US), I can’t say the same for Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. Most of the (very few) laughs are bundled into the opening 15 minutes, the supporting characters are either superfluous or annoying and the editing of this Unrated Edition is dire in places.
Plot-in-a-nutshell: Fresh from the first film, Harold and Kumar get on a jet bound for Amsterdam. And then get promptly arrested and thrown into Guantánamo Bay as they’re mistaken for terrorists. Escape and an attempt to clear their name ensues as they try to get to Texas and the one person who can help them.
The film has moments, but that’s it – moments. The whole thing is disjointed, particularly in one party scene where it’s painfully obvious that dialogue is being dubbed from a scene that should be on the screen in front of you. Instead, I assume to make the most of the “unrated” label, the camera pans around a load of semi-naked women instead. I mean, naked chicks are all fine and good but that could have been done as well as the acting taking place off-camera.
Overall, though, the entire film plays as a lot of little scenes just cobbled together with no real fluidity.
As I said, the supporting characters are just annoying. Hell, even Kumar’s annoying in this one. Why anyone would stay friends with a complete ****** like this is beyond me. I know this is a comedy, and a stoner one at that, but the viewer still have to have some amount of belief in the characters and situation, surely.
Ron Fox (Robert Corddry) tips the believability scale far too far as an insane Homeland Security representative, surrounded by people who know he’s a dick. The scene where his “translator” can’t understand Harold’s parents because they speak English is simply painful. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not Corddry’s fault. It’s the character that’s awful to watch, not the actor. And the guy who plays George W. Bush couldn’t look any less like the “real” one – hell, my dad would do a better job and he’s got a beard.
Neil Patrick Harris, however, makes a welcome return as himself, and does a great turn in making himself out to be a complete drug-addled tool. Sadly, he’s the only standout in the entire cast.
John Cho has gone on to pilot the Enterprise in the new Star Trek film. Kal Penn has just been offered a job as an Assistant Director in the White House. Hopefully this will keep them away from making a third film.
Having a film all about drugs is one thing, but having to ensure your audience is ****** up to the eyeballs on weed to find any of it funny isn’t really good marketing.
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