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A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas
| Released |
9 December 2011 |
| Director |
Todd Strauss-Schulson |
Starring
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John Cho, Kal Penn, Neil Patrick Harris, Daneel Harris, Paula Garcés, Danny Trejo, Elias Koteas |
Writer(s)
|
Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg |
| Producer(s) |
Greg Shapiro |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
90 minutes |
| Genre |
Comedy |
| Rating |
18 |
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A Merry Stoner Christmas!
The ‘Stoner Comedy’ is an interesting sub-genre in Hollywood. It started in the late ‘70s with Cheech and Chong’s film Up in Smoke. Other more recent examples are The Big Lebowski, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Pineapple Express. However, the only team to create an enduring franchise have been Harold & Kumar.
First the hungry potheads went to White Castle in 2004 and then they escaped from Guantanamo Bay in 2008. Both films were modest successes at the box office but really made their money in the home DVD market where let’s just say, their target demographic would be more ‘relaxed’. The humour in both films was crude, outlandish but strangely charming in its own way. Much of it was due to the pairing of Kal Penn and John Cho. Cho has since become a bit of a star after appearing as Sulu in the Star Trek reboot. Penn had bagged a big part in the TV show House before leaving to work in the White House for Barack Obama. But they’ve both found time in their busy schedules to make this third instalment in their adventures.
The story begins with the bearded Kumar (Penn) buying weed off a department store Santa. With no job and now broken up from his girlfriend of the first two films Vanessa (Danneel Harris), he is in a desperate state. He lives in a messy apartment and smokes dope constantly. Harold (Cho) has cleaned up his act and is now a successful stockbroker living in the suburbs with his beautiful wife Maria (Paula Garcés). They are trying for a baby but Harold is stressed out with the impending visit for the holidays of his father-in-law (Danny Trejo) who doesn’t approve of his daughter having married a Korean-American. His father-in-law has brought a special Christmas tree with him and Harold volunteers to decorate it while Maria and her family head into the city to Midnight Mass.
Meanwhile Vanessa visits Kumar and reveals she’s pregnant with his child. Unable to deal with this, he agrees to go to a party with his nerdy neighbour but first he stops off at Harold’s house to deliver a mysterious package that was delivered to the apartment. However an accident leads to the Christmas tree being burned to cinders and now Harold is desperate for a replacement. Kumar tries to help but only makes things worse and eventually the two old friends have to reunite to try and save Christmas for Harold. So they set off on anther crazy adventure that involves, amongst other things, dodging murderous Ukrainian gangsters, performing in a Broadway musical, exposing a toddler to class A drugs and meeting Santa Claus.
This is classic hit and miss stoner humour. When it’s funny it’s hilarious, such as when their drinks are spiked and they go on a nightmarish clay-mation acid trip. There’s also another brilliant cameo from Neil Patrick Harris, playing a degenerate, crack-addicted ‘real-life’ version of himself. Oh you heard he’s gay right? Wait until you see this!
Other jokes fall flat and there is plenty of crude gross-out gags and decidedly politically incorrect humour that some may find off-putting. However it all moves along so quickly that you don’t really mind too much and truth be told, they pack a lot into an hour and a half. They also have great fun with the fact that the film is in 3-D, hardly ever missing an opportunity to remind the audience of the fact.
This won’t be for everyone but for weary shoppers it could provide a good giggle and hey, why shouldn’t stoners have a Christmas film of their own?
-
Jim O’Connor |
