3 STARS

The title pretty much says it all.

For those not in the know, Korean American investment banker Harold (John Cho) and Indian American medical school candidate Kumar (Kal Penn) are a pot-smoking duo whose exploits first hit the big screen in 2004. In that film they got high, got the munchies and tried to get to White Castle to gorge on the fast food chain’s mini-burgers. Their trip is hilariously disrupted by a rabid raccoon, skinheads and a randy Neil Patrick Harris.

The new movie picks up an hour after the last one left off. The girl of Harold’s dreams has gone to Amsterdam on holiday so the boys decide to track her down. On board the plane Kumar’s invention, a smokeless bong, is mistaken for a bomb and the duo are carted off to Guantanamo Bay and locked up as terrorists. “Looks looks like North Korea and Al Quaida are working together,” says clueless Homeland Security agent Ron Fox (Rob Corddry).    
 
They narrowly escape physical abuse before actually escaping Gitmo and making it back to the United States on a raft with some Cuban refugees.

Their plan is to hightail it to Texas and the wedding of Kumar’s ex-girlfriend to a man connected to the Bush family who can help them clear their names. Along the way they encounter a one-eyed inbred hillbilly named Cyrus, the KKK, Neil Patrick Harris (of course) and even the President himself. 

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay isn’t quite as funny as the first installment, but has its fair share of laughs generated by the chemistry between the two leads. They’re the stoner, stream-of-consciousness Laurel and Hardy. Just two hapless dudes who are always getting into trouble, usually of their own making, but no matter what the situation their reactions to each other and the scenario, whether it is a KKK rally or gastric discomfort, are usually unexpected and usually funny.

As in the first installment, lurking just behind the laughs is social comment. White Castle focused on racism and stereotyping whereas this one is an outrageous look at the culture of fear that risen since 9/11.
Like the recent satire War, Inc. Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay takes on very serious subjects, skewering them with humor. In the process they make statements against racial profiling and the War on Terror paranoia more effectively than more earnest (and possibly more well-intentioned) films like Lions for Lambs. When Agent Fox says to his suspected terrorists, “You know what time it is? It’s Freedom O’clock,” it’s funny, but also a bit dark. Watch the news. These guys really talk like that.

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay is more than just a stoner comedy. It also works as a look at race in America and how the War on Terror has spiraled out of control. If that sounds too serious for you, it also shows you Neil Patrick Harris, high on mushrooms chasing after a unicorn. That’s just the kind of movie it is.