Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle Review
by Laura Clifford (laura AT reelingreviews DOT com)July 30th, 2004
HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE
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'Just cuz you're hung like a moose doesn't mean you've gotta do porn.' -- Kumar
Harold (John Cho, "American Pie") churns data for investment bankers who take advantage of his work ethic. Harold's roommate Kumar (Kal Penn, "Malibu's Most Wanted") spends his days evading his dad's attempts to get him into med school and convincing Harold to come home to smoke the killer weed he's scored. When Kumar's foxy machinations succeed, he and Harold must assuage their subsequent munchies, and so an epic evening begins when "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle."
Screenwriters Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg took a simple premise and shaped it from their own personal experiences. The result is an epic pothead movie with laughs and smarts that relies on old standards like the farmer's daughter while kicking the stereotype right out from under their racially diverse characters. Both Harold and Kumar finish their journey with distinctly new outlooks on life without having lost any of their irreverent, goofy charm.
A White Castle television commercial is the powerful suggestion that sends the Felix and Oscar-like roomies all over the state of New Jersey in a quest to satisfy their appetite. Along the way, they will encounter the same hip-hop bullies that haunt their neighborhood, two English girls with bad bathroom habits, an Asian student club and the girl who has a crush on Harold, a rabid raccoon, a surgical theater, the girl Harold has a crush on (Paula Garces, "Clockstoppers"), an escaped cheetah, a jail cell, an oozing Jesus freak, Neil Patrick Harris, and a gigantic stash of weed Kumar envisions spending the rest of his life with. And that's not all! Just when they've lost their resolve, they run into their across-the-hall neighbors Rosenberg and Goldstein (Eddie Kaye Thomas, "American Pie" and David Krumholtz, "Sidewalks of New York" - the screenwriters alter egos?), whose mere presence at a fast food joint inspires Harold to carry on.
Director Danny Leiner ("Dude, Where's My Car?") packs a wealth of material into an economic running time without losing his audience or the occasional social commentary. This low budget effort features such baldly cheesy special effects that one can only smile at their cheerful execution.
Cho and Penn are brilliantly cast both separately and as a duo - a "Harold & Kumar" series should be ensured. Cho is the straight guy with a gift for physical comedy and Penn is the laid back one with the outrageous lines - Chong to Cho's Cheech. Besides Harold's love interest, Maria, whose trip to Amsterdam at film's close will surely lure the boys into a sequel, Christopher Meloni's ("Wet Hot American Summer") Freakshow, a grotesque hillbilly with a hot wife, is the supporting character I most expect to see again. Neil Patrick Harris enjoys what must be the year's most gonzo extended cameo.
"Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" could be this year's dark horse indie smash. Unlike "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," this one's a blast.
B+
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