IF you find the idea of a genially out-of-it Dubya sharing a doobie with the stoner heroes of “Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay” appealing, this may be the first Iraq-related movie you might actually want to see.
Your $12 also buys you the unforgettable sight of Rob Corddry, as an agent of the Department of Homeland Security, literally wiping his nether regions – yes, there are skid marks – with the Bill of Rights.
And you get to see prisoners at Gitmo being forced to perform sodomy on burly Marines. Remember what they say – comedy isn’t pretty.
Predecessor “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle,” made me laugh more than any movie I’ve seen so far this century – and it became a cult favorite on DVD.
Unlike some other members of the audience at the screening I attended, I didn’t laugh anywhere near as much at this far less fresh sequel – which is broader, more vulgar, more scattershot, more overtly political and a lot less funny than it sounds on paper.
Korean-American John Cho and Indian-American Kal Penn are back as the lovable stoners Harold and Kumar, and the action picks up the morning after their trip to White Castle (which is never mentioned by name) where we’re treated – on the soundtrack – to the results of the previous night’s consumption.
On a flight to Amsterdam to visit Harold’s girlfriend, Kumar can’t resist lighting up a “smokeless” bong in the restroom – a stunt that, thanks to racial profiling, quickly lands them in Gitmo on suspicion they’re part of a North Korean-al Qaeda terror conspiracy.
Disappointingly, the movie spends only five minutes in Cuba before the boys escape with the boat people.
The rest is a road comedy as our heroes bumble across the American South – trailed by Homeland Security – headed for the wedding of Kumar’s old flame, whose fiancé has White House connections they hope will clear their names.
Along the way, there are encounters with the Ku Klux Klan and a redneck couple with an inbred daughter that fail to live up to their potential – you’re almost waiting for Larry the Cable Guy to show up.
Among the variations of gags from the original are a threesome involving Harold, Kumar and a giant bag of marijuana.
Overall, there’s a lot less toking up and a lot more Neil Patrick Harris, who again plays a drug and sex-crazed version of “himself,” as well as a visit to a bordello presided over by Beverly D’Angelo.
Other selling points dreamed up by writer-directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg (who wrote, but did not direct, the original) include much scatological humor and utterly gratuitous nudity, such as perhaps the first “bottomless party” ever depicted in a movie.
“It’s people like you who make people think Americans are stupid,” one character lectures Coddry – but the makers of “Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay” would probably consider that a compliment.