Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle

(2004)

H & K smoke some really good dope, get a gigantic case of the munchies, and nothing will do but that they consume mass quantities of sliders at the grease palace we don’t have out here on the Left Coast. It becomes a quest, which takes them through Princeton University, jail, and a ride on a wild cheetah which they turn on to some dope they’ve stolen from the police. That’s right, a cheetah, in New Jersey, and it’s not explained, it’s just there.

There’s a certain kind of stoner-type movie that I usually don’t like. I think it’s because the stars are usually not only stoned, but dumb as rocks even then they’re straight. There are exceptions, like Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, where the guys are stupid, but so endearing and basically good-hearted that I don’t mind it, and the script was smart. Harold and Kumar are pretty bright guys who just like to get really baked on the weekends. They are very different, but alike in one crucial way: they are neither white, nor black, nor Hispanic. They are the neglected minority, guys from overachieving cultures: Korean and Indian. This provides a base for the looniness that follows. You’re not expected to believe any of this, and yet you can like the characters and laugh at their ridiculous adventures. Some of it didn’t work, but enough of it did that I had some good laughs. [Recommend you skip the movie and go directly to The Art of the Fart (listed under A movies), the ONLY good thing about HAKGTWC. Watching Varley having a major laugh attack for ten minutes was pretty funny, too.]