Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay (2008)

O Masterpiece
O Excellent
O Good
O OK
X Mediocrity
O Avoid

Review by Jason Pyles / June 17, 2008

Nope. I did not see “Harold & Kumar Go to White Caste” (2004), and I count myself fortunate, based on this sequel. “Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay” is a filthy, satirical comedy whose filmmakers obviously have something to say, but their points are undermined by the movie’s unflinching tastelessness.

This is not to say that I hated “Escape From Gitmo,” because it was better than I feared it might be. But even at that, this movie is mediocrity — at best.

Just to be clear about what you’re in for if you choose to subject yourself to “Escape From Gitmo,” you’ll get plenty of bathroom humor; pubic-hair, masturbation, and semen humor; racism humor (can there be such a thing?); disabilities humor (also tasteless), and so on and so forth.

I could go on, but it’s basically as low-brow and as gallows as you can get, without being “Freddy Got Fingered” (2001) or “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” (2006). I’m not sure the bar of decency can be lowered any further for a comedy than it was for those two movies, but if it can, I don’t want to know.

Anyway, here’s the premise: Best pals Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) are flying to Amsterdam, but their new destination suddenly becomes Guantanamo Bay when the plane’s passengers mistake the two for terrorists. The duo is imprisoned and escapes, and the rest of the movie follows the pair on their idiotic quest to exonerate themselves. Meanwhile, Secretary Ron Fox (Rob Corddry) from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security fiercely pursues them like Tommy Lee Jones chases Wesley Snipes in “U.S. Marshals” (1998). Oh, and along the way, Harold and Kumar encounter a psychedelic Neil Patrick Harris, whom you’ll probably remember as Doogie Howser, M.D.

To point out a more constructive criticism, I was most displeased with the inconsistency of Kal Penn’s Kumar character. He is a human paradox. We learn along the way that Kumar is exceptionally intelligent — even brilliant. Yet, he is also the character whose stupidity is so profound at times, it’s bewildering. Perhaps I could get behind these characters and their zany adventures if they were credible human beings. But to be fair, I don’t really have a problem with John Cho’s character.

Speaking of John Cho, it comes to mind that I know another guy with that same name. The John Cho I know is a brilliant young man, similar to Kumar. But he had a weird habit of climbing on top of apartment complexes and lurking about, a tendency that might be called stupid, if not bewildering. Perhaps paradoxical humans are possible … I think they’re called Geminis.

Directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg
John Cho / Kal Penn / Rob Corddry
Comedy 102 min.
MPAA: R (for strong crude and sexual content, graphic nudity, pervasive language and drug use)

U.S. Release Date: April 25, 2008
Copyright 2008: 287