Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" is almost as funny as it is crude and politically incorrect. And that's really saying something.
What can you say about a movie that has an extended gag with two college coeds having a "duel" over sitting on the toilet. It also has more pot humor than almost any other movie since Cheech & Chong '70s stoner comedies.
Yet it also has some solid laughs, some clever sequences and some real smarts. Which makes it a bit frustrating, since it panders and aims way too low way too frequently.
Ironically, the better-thought-out jokes are bound to go over the heads of the target audience.
The title characters are a pair of twentysomething roommates — a Korean-American and an Indian-American — who couldn't be more different. Recent college grad Harold (John Cho) is working hard at a stock brokerage, while Kumar (Kal Penn) has been deliberately sabotaging his medical-school interviews so he can continue to sponge off his parents.
Kumar is also a bad influence on Harold, who is supposed to be working over the weekend but is persuaded by Kumar to get stoned with him and then head to White Castle for a meal. The catch is they're not sure where to find White Castle. Nevertheless, they hit the road, where they encounter racist cops, extreme-sports jocks, a rabid raccoon, an escaped cheetah and even a celebrity — Neil Patrick Harris, playing a distorted version of himself.
It's pretty silly stuff, but it's briskly paced, which makes some of it go down a little easier. As agreeable as some elements are, though, it does go too far in some respects — including the racial gag at the end of the credits.
Still, the cast is pretty likable, especially Cho, whose transformation from pushover to Man of Action is convincing. And Penn narrowly avoids being too smug.
"Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" is rated R for crude humor (references to and jokes about bodily and sexual functions), frequent use of strong sexual profanity, simulated drug use and strong drug humor (marijuana), violence (gunplay, brawling, slapstick and some animal violence), male and female nudity, gore, simulated sex, and use of racial epithets. Running time: 87 minutes.
E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com