Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)

Beginning precisely where Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle left off, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay takes the film franchise in a more boorish and spuriously topical direction. Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) take an ill-fated flight to Amsterdam, during which Kumar's suspicious-looking bong is mistaken for a bomb. Their arrest prompts a wild-eyed, racist Homeland Security nut (Rob Corddry) to send the boys to indefinite lockup at Guantanamo Bay, where beefy guards sexually subjugate "enemy combatants." The duo manage to get away and make it back to the U.S., hoping the well-connected fiance (Eric Winter) of Kumar's old girlfriend, Vanessa (Danneel Harris), can get them out of their mess. During a dangerous and grotesque odyssey to Texas (where Vanessa is marrying her rich and vain boyfriend, much to Kumar's dismay), Harold and Kumar have episodic encounters with the Ku Klux Klan, a one-eyed, inbred monster, and old friend Neil Patrick Harris (as himself), who swallows fistfuls of magic mushrooms and drags the boys to a brothel stop that goes terribly wrong.

The desultory comedy strikes a lowbrow tone from its opening scene (Harold takes a shower while Kumar has a diarrhea attack) and doesn't get much more interesting than that. If there's a bodily fluid that doesn't rate a joke in Guantanamo Bay, it doesn't exist. The persistent sight gags about weed (including a smoky visit with President Bush) never reach the kind of giddy pitch that pot humor requires, leaving a lot of the film's comedy just hanging like dead space. The sequel's attempt to say something, albeit in a gross way, about the state of the country during the Bush years is obvious and empty. Really, there isn't a lot of reason for Guantanamo Bay to have been made, except to print money. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com

Stupidly Funny

This is really a pot head's movie. There's always a laugh in this film, mostly seeming to concern race. But I found those jokes to be handled in a really funny way. I mean many of the stereotypes explored in this film are rather stupid. So laughing at them makes them even stupider which shows that racism is, indeed, stupid.

Having said that there is a poltical statement from jump street in this film. Harold and Kumar are sent to Gitmo because they're believed to be terrortist, despite their protests. If that's not saying something then I don't know what is. Their parents are treated awfully, which is again another statement.

In fact this movie could be considered a political comedy, but it's not. It's still got the weed, but to a less degree this time than in the first.

Everyone is cast really well in this. I was happy to see John Reep(as I think he's rather funny) and he was spot on playing a Southern redneck you'll actually like.(Which, even though he's a Southerner, isn't as easy as you may think.)

I would hope to be seeing a third film, but if not two is just fine with me. They're going to be classic, stupid comedies. October 8, 2008

Awesome

People may say it's not as good as the first one but I think that is only because of the prejudice you automatically have when a second movie gets released.
This one is great because they have managed to capture the essence of the first movie. If they could not get the same actors it would not have been worth making....
So do yourself a favour and get it! An instant classic!
October 6, 2008

CHEESE! Choose-Your-Own Adventure on Blu-Ray!

This is better than the first film! The choose-your-own adventure feature of the blu-ray edition is worth the price of admission. The only thing is it should have had more options! Buy this movie so they will make another one.

Cheese and over-the-top, you need to be in the right low-expectations mindset, yet that's why I recommend this movie.Clawed - The Legend of Sasquatch September 26, 2008

Well it was a little bit better then the first Herold and Kumar

Basically the jokes in this film are the same type of comedy as the first film "Herold and Kumar Go To White Castle" only a little better especially the ones involving N.P.H. AKA Neil Patrick Harris. This movie really gets 3.5 stars, because it was funny but not quite laugh out loud funny. September 22, 2008

funnier than the first

this movie is so much funnier than the first one, I especially love the part of the bottomless party. September 22, 2008

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