Review: A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas 3D (2011) again proves that the first film's brilliance was a fluke.

A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas 3D
2011
90 minutes
rated R

by Scott Mendelson

Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle is arguably the best comedy of the prior decade.  It's laugh-out-loud funny, but also filled with intelligent characters engaging in outlandish, but almost-plausible adventures in search of a most simple pleasure (a hamburger).  It was crude, but not stupid about its raunch, and it created a wonderful 'this is America' tapestry that helped make it one of the finest films about race/ethnicity relations in modern cinema. Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay is every bit as lousy as most of us expected the first film to be.  It's aimless, painfully unfunny, openly stupid, and trading in the sort of stock storytelling conventions ("Oh, that girl I dated for a few months in college is THE ONE who I must win back!") that the original avoided.  More importantly, it's outright immoral in how it claims political topicality but sells the three biggest post-9/11 lies around (there are no innocent men in Gitmo, the post 9/11 abuses are the result of a few bad apples, and George W. Bush is really just 'one of us').  For better or worse, A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas isn't as offensive as the first sequel, but it's still a shockingly lazy, uninspired affair.  It feels cheap and constrained, with only a handful of laughs and a narrative that sees fit to mostly replicate jokes from the first film.  It's not as aggressively bad as the first sequel, but mere mediocrity is not something to aspire to.

Trailer: A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas works to restore the luster of a franchise after the truly awful first sequel.

I actually chuckled at this one a few times, and the 3D feels very self-aware.  I also enjoyed how the trailer openly mocked the series continuity, while also acknowledging the difference between the real Neil Patrick Harris and the fictionalized version that exists in these films.  I consider Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle to be the best comedy of the previous decade and perhaps the finest film about race relations in modern times.  Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay is a terrible, unfunny, and morally offensive sequel (it basically boils all of the post-9/11 government abuses to 'one bad apple' and lets George W. Bush off the hook) that shames the original.  I have no reason to hope that this third film will be as potent a piece of social satire as the original.  But it does look awfully funny.  It drops on November 4th.  As always, we'll see...

Scott Mendelson

When it comes to using Wilson Phillips' "Hold On", Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle did it first, and better...

My only real carp with Bridesmaids is that well, Wilson Phillips's "Hold On" has been used relatively recently, and to arguably better comic effect.  If you recall, the first punchline is that the truck belonging to a group of racist, xenophobic bullies in fact contains a CD collection of female power anthems (which goes along with the whole 'don't judge a book by its cover' theme of the film).  But the film raises that bit as the undeniably catchy "Hold On" becomes both a metaphor for the journey and a tool to heal the leads' damaged friendship.   That Bridesmaids uses the same song for similar reasons (as a cheer-up power anthem) is a minor quibble.  But I still wonder if anyone in the production actually mentioned the scene above.  Surely the action climax of Undercover Brother, set to Michael Jackson's "Beat It" would have been that much funnier if Ben Stiller's Zoolander hadn't used the same song just six months earlier to superior comic effect.  Of course, comparing Harold and Kumar Go to While Castle to Bridesmaids is no slam against the latter.  I happen to think that Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle is the best comedy of 2000s and one of the best films ever made about race relations, ethnic identity, and the melting pot that is modern-day America.  As for the sequel?  Well, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle remains the best comedy of, well... you get the idea.

Scott Mendelson

Update - DVD Talk's Tyler Foster unearthed a clip from the end of the 2009 direct-to-DVD comedy Spring Breakdown which also climaxes with a group performance of "Hold On".  I saw the movie once and wrote a brief mixed-negative review and have completely forgotten about it since then.  Anyway, credit where credit is due (thanks for the tip, Mr. Foster, and thanks for reading), here is the (played pretty straight) clip.