3.5 stars out of 5
Just when we need them the most—well, at least, I do—Harold and Kumar are back. Their first film I consider a classic. The second, while not as great, was funnier than it had any right to be. By the third, perhaps afraid that fatigue would set in, the filmmakers add not one but TWO Hollywood fallbacks: the Christmas movie and the 3-D movie. And while I think this installment is a slight fall-off from part 2, it’s another respectable and highly enjoyable entry in the series.
I don’t see a lot of the 3-D movies, but the use here seemed pretty ingenious and of a very high quality. Sure, you get a lot of pot smoke blown in your face. But you also jump back many times and laugh while you do.
I would guess that they blew most of the 3-D budget early on in the movie, as the effect is used much less often later in the film. Coincidentally, the film drags a bit in its second half. Perhaps bracing for this as well, the filmmakers save the always terrific NPH for some hilarious scenes later on.
He’s just one of the dependable charms of the film. Cho and Penn are once again excellent—their chemistry has never been better. David Krumholtz again brings a smile. We get in-jokes: About the 3-D itself, Kal Penn’s White House job, NPH coming out, and even the possibility of another sequel. And sorry Seth Rogen, but these guys are the reigning champs at stoner humor. (Even if nothing will ever quite match Kumar’s courtship and rocky relationship with the giant bag of pot.)
As far as new additions, Thomas Lennon is very funny as Harold’s new suburban pal (Kumar’s new buddy is less amusing), and Danny Trejo gets to flex his comedic muscles as Harold’s father-in-law. We also get winning cameos from Patton Oswalt, Brett Gelman, and RZA.
So…. maybe a bit cruder than before, and not as consistently entertaining. But as in the two earlier films, this movie ultimately has a good heart, and it’s genuinely nice to see the old friends together again—which isn’t a bad message at all for the holiday season.
ok, i fell for it — you got me to look up NPH, thinking he was some rap guy and i was out of the loop. i had a laugh over that one!
These guys are my heroes!
But my bet is that Rogen’s stoner humor was indoctrinated at a much earlier age, esp. at 00:45-1:00 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-aZogWeiyU
I coulda been somebody, a stoner even, if I’d had such vengeance toward a massive swath of humanity at age 14.
I think the sequence (from the first film) where Kumar marries the bag of pot is one of the most perfect cinematic sequences of the decade.