The prevailing attitude in Hollywood is that films dealing with our current post 9/11-Iraq war world are box-office poison. Even critically acclaimed releases like the recent Stop Loss have been unable to reverse this trend. But Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay may change all that.
What does a film about two stoners have to do with these issues? As the title of this sequel to 2004’s Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle suggests — everything.
The latest adventure of the 21st century Cheech and Chong (played once again by John Cho and Kal Penn) picks up right where the first left off. The two best “buds” catch the next plane to Amsterdam to track down Maria (Paula Garces), the love of Harold’s life, but not before bumping into Kumar’s old girlfriend Vanessa (Danneel Harris), who is about to get married.
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But things take a turn for the worst when Kumar smuggles a bong onto the plane and is mistaken for a terrorist with a bomb. The two soon find themselves imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, escape to the U.S., and set off on a series of misadventures as they try to clear their names and Kumar tries to stop Vanessa’s wedding.
The original Harold and Kumar wasn’t a box-office hit, but it made $60 million on DVD, prompting this sequel. The original writers, John Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, have not only penned the duo’s latest romp, but directed it as well.
The first film had all the markings of a potential disaster: a Hollywood production with two Asian American leads channeling their inner stoners in search of White Castle burgers. That idea wouldn’t survive the first minute of a Hollywood pitch, yet somehow the film worked.
The sequel isn’t as good — with some of the novelty gone, there’s no way it can duplicate the freshness of the original — but it’s still a very good film and possibly the best Hollywood film about our post-9/11 world since United 93.
Harold and Kumar is full of the raunchy humor expected of the genre — constant references to bodily functions, masturbation jokes, full-frontal nudity and much smoking of the herb. But it’s also one of the most subversive comedies to hit the screen in recent years, reminiscent of films like Ernst Lubitsch’s To Be or Not To Be, which dared to poke fun at Hitler and the Nazis at the height of World War II.
Here the target is post-9/11 racism embodied in the form of deputy chief of Homeland Security Ron Fox (Rob Corddry), who has never met a minority who isn’t a terrorist.
Hurwitz and Schlossberg very deftly parody the war on terror paranoia and the racism underlying the movement. When Fox calls in Harold and Kumar’s parents for questioning, he finds he can’t understand their “strange language” even though they are speaking perfect English. These types of jokes and situations may be obvious to any person of color who grew up in the U.S., but to see them played out in a mainstream movie is almost revolutionary.
And the filmmakers don’t stop there. Their targets include everything from the Ku Klux Klan, southern hicks with inbred one-eyed children and George W. Bush himself (who knew the president could be so articulate after smoking so much bud). And for all you Neil Patrick Harris fans, yes, the man returns in the sequel, more outrageous than ever (stay through the closing credits for a little surprise).
Harold and Kumar may be the first Hollywood franchise to feature Asian American men in the lead roles who don’t have to resort to kung fu. The characters’ ethnic heritage is an integral part of their identities, but at the same time, they are just normal dudes obsessed with normal concerns, whether it’s finding a good burger or getting the girl. The strength and appeal of this franchise is the characters’ ability to be the “everymen” — guys we can all relate to.
Both Cho and Penn are perfectly cast in their parts, and after hearing them talk in various interviews, it’s clear that both actors understand not only the artistic gift they’ve been given with these great roles, but the cultural responsibility that goes with it.
Who would have thought that two stoners out to satisfy their munchies would provide the breakthrough for a genuine 21st century representation of Asian Americans? Long live Harold and Kumar! Let’s raise a glass, or a bong, to their continued success.
Philip W. Chung writes the Reel Stories column, which appears every other week in AsianWeek.