Midnight Massive Marijuana

I've gotta be honest, when Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle came out, amusing as it was, I did not expect the film to grow into a trilogy. The goal of the film was right there in the title: the characters wanted to go to White Castle. They achieve that by the end of the film. At that point, how much more story is there to tell? Well, it's arguable whether you think there's really much story to this whole series or not (being a collection of skits strung along three road trip films), but the films did at least find new ways to thrust the characters into random stoner adventures.

As far as story is concerned, the highlight is certainly Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay as that film gives the characters a far more important end goal (clearing their names so they aren't arrested for being terrorists). But as far as comedy is concerned, the second film is probably the weakest of the set. If you want silly antics and dumb humor, I think I have to give the edge to A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (aka A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas because it has a bunch of 3D effect gags in it). It's a looser, sillier film with very low stakes, but it absolutely commits to its bit.

The film finds Harold (John Cho, once again) and Kumar (Kal Penn, who temporarily left his job at the White House to film this movie) estranged, having not talked to each other in years. Harold went off with Maria (Paula Garces), getting married and moving off together. Harold works in the city as an investment banker, a job he's paid quite handsomely for, while Maria (it seems) pines away at home waiting for Harold to put a baby in her). Meanwhile, Kumar continues to live in their old apartment, smoking weed and living along. Vanessa left him a few months ago after he lost his medical gig (for drug use) and refused to do anything but smoke pot on their couch. Kumar is in need of having his life shaken up, and a random package address to Harold that shows up at the apartment's door step might just be what kicks him in gear.

Taking the package to Harold, Kumar leaves it on the door mat of Harold's new house, but then Kumar slips and falls on ice out front, causing Harold to come out and see what was going on. Harold invites Kumar in, and the two get to talking, like old friends. But when Harold opens the package and sees a giant joint inside it, he gets pissed. He doesn't smoke anymore. Kumar does, and lights up, but Harold throws the joint away... only for it to magically boomerang back into the house, landing in the Christmas tree that Maria's father, Carlos (Danny Trejo), brought along with as the whole Perez family visits. Now Harold and Kumar have to go out and find a new Christmas tree, a giant 12-foot fir, or Christmas will be completely ruined.

Considering religion was never mentioned in the previous films (outside of the fact that Eddie Kaye Thomas's Andy Rosenberg and David Krumholtz's Seth Goldstein were two Jewish stoners, it is a little weird for the third film in the series to be all about Christmas. Sure, Christmas episodes are standard features of long running TV shows, but to dedicate an entire movie to a single holiday, especially for a series of films dedicated to getting high and looking at naked ladies, this was an odd turn.

Of course, that was probably the point. After doing a munchy run in the first film, and then dealing with politics in the second film, there weren't a lot of targets left that would work for these two stoners. Setting the film around the holidays and then using it as an excuse to make fun of Christmas probably afforded the writers, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, new material to lampoon. And then do, making jokes about Christmas specials, claymation, Santa, and other holidays as well. In that regard the holiday setting does work well.

And it's not really a religious film, either. These were two guys that didn't really care about their religion in the previous films (hell, we don't even know if they had any religions they followed at all). Maria, being raised by a Catholic family (as many Latino families are) is Catholic herself, so Harold caring about Christmas for her makes sense. But everyone else in and around the characters really doesn't seem to care too much about the holiday. Kumar wants to get back with Vanessa, who is back living with her parents in the city, but neither of them care about the day. Kumar's neighbor wants to go find a girl he met Online and hook up with her at her Christmas party, but he's just there for sex. Christmas is the root of some seasonal jokes, and then for the rest of the time it's little more than set decoration.

I make a point of this because, while I doubt anyone would go into a Harold & Kumar film expecting a proper Christmas title... you never know. I mean, I'm Jewish. I certainly wasn't looking for that. But maybe someone other there sits in the perfect middle of enjoying stoner comedies but also wanting a Christmas movie to be about Christmas and would be annoyed this film isn't that. It's probably a very thin use case but maybe that person exists. One guy. Very upset that Harold and Kumar just waged a war on Christmas. Its actually funny when you think about it, but still... this is a heads up.

All the same, there could be a sizable portion of people that would actually be turned off by a Harold & Kumar film that purported to be about Christmas .Maybe they felt the film "shouldn't go there" because they don't want any religion in their dumb stoner film. Although the trailers for the film likely would have dissuaded that notion, still, just know this is far more a Harold & Kumar film than anything with a holiday tinge.

Best of all, it is funny. Most of its humor is mined from the dumb 3D effects the film puts in (because, like so many third entries in a series, this film had to do 3D). There's all kind of stuff thrown at the screen just for the hell of it. Smoke rings, eggs, paint, syrup. Most 3D films try to accent the action with cool things flying at the screen, but this movie is content with using the effect for stupid things, and I think that makes it better. Any humor that can be grabbed from dumb uses of 3D aid the film.

And it's nice to be back with all of these characters again. Harold, Kumar, and, yes, Neil Patrick Harris (despite dying in the previous film) are all back for silly antics and a lot of laughs. The warm chemistry between Cho and Penn are what drives the film, but Harris once again steals the scenes in the few moments he gets (the film wisely using him as an accent and not a main character). This is an affable, silly film that entertains for its runtime without overly burdening the viewer with worrying about anything. It's just here to be fun for the holidays.

It's hard to say that we really needed three films in this series, but having watched through all three I do appreciate they exist. They're silly, they're dumb, but they are fun, and sometimes all you need is a bit of fun. Doubly so during the holidays.