A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS Review
By: Rama
Let me make this clear, I’m a huge fan of this franchise, I thought the first film, Go to White Castle was one of the hilarious movies ever made, and I thought the sequel, Escape from Guantanamo Bay, was even funnier and I’ve always admired the fact that this franchise was brave enough to take a chance on two actors of minority ethnics in the lead roles because let’s face it, there’s not enough roles out there in Hollywood for actors of Korean and Indian descent. So I respect Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg for creating these two characters that are great addition to the long line of cinema’s memorable pothead characters
But A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS unfortunately is nothing but 3D gimmick, the humor is not fresh and has no care. The previous films were crude but they were also funny, this one however is just plain crude..
The new comedy, arriving November 4th, picks up six years after the duo’s last adventure. After years of growing apart, Harold Lee (John Cho) and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn) have replaced each other with new friends and are preparing for their respective Yuletide celebrations. But when a mysterious package mistakenly arrives at Kumar’s door on Christmas Eve, his attempt to redirect it to Harold’s house ends with the “high grade” contents—and Harold’s father-in-law’s prize Christmas tree— going up in smoke. With his in-laws out of the house for the day, Harold decides to cover his tracks, rather than come clean. Reluctantly embarking on another ill-advised journey with Kumar through New York City, their search for the perfect replacement tree almost blows Christmas Eve sky high.
I tried to keep count on how many times the movie plays with the 3D FX by throwing images that would jump at you. What I appreciated about JACKASS 3D was that it constructed the jokes and the humor and then inject the 3D around those elements, so what you got was everything you expected from a Jackass movie but with extra kick, whereas A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS builds its humor around the 3D and it doesn’t work because after a while, having things jump at you gets irritating on top of your not being able to laugh as much as you’d like to
Harold and Kumar in this installment are no longer best buds, we’re never told what it is exactly that caused their estranged relationship other than possibly because Harold knew when to grow up and Kumar still doesn’t want to.
Just like the first film, this too is a semi road trip movie mixed with mishaps and crazy adventures and all happen in the span one night. And of course, NPH with his raging hormone has a memorable appearance once again. By this point, I can’t think of anybody else who can play a sex-craze straight guy better than NPH who’s actually gay in real life. As a matter of fact, the film sorta teases, not in a bad way, his being gay. So NPH’s presence is always a treat, with or without the unicorn.
But I can’t completely hate this film because despite the fact that it doesn’t crack me up, the story is there and it’s not a bad one either. These two guys trying to decide whether to wise up or hold on to what they used to have as friends when they were youger because when they’re really good at partying, no doubt, but are they also good at facing responsibilities of life which they could no longer run away from.
So A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS means well but it fails as a comedy and showing a toddler who’s addicted to marijuana, cocaine, and crack is a sign of writers running out of ideas.
GRADE: 2 out of 5
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