I saw this movie on reccomendation of my cousin, Jessica, who has lived in New Jersey her entire life. We were having a half-argument/discussion about why I thought she should like Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back since its set in New Jersey. She brought this movie up, which I’d been curious about since I used to like going to white castle when I lived in New York City (they have Krystal in the south, which is inferior… mostly due to the mustard they put on the burgers)… so I picked it up at Target the day it came out ($15.99).
Boiled down to its most basic components, the movie is a stoner buddy flick. It fits squarely into the genre of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, albeit with less cursing, more nudity, and fewer caucasian characters :-). I liked this movie. I was a little afraid of it being another high school flick: I must be starting to get old enough to the point where i’m tired of seeing people *my age* (mid-late 20’s) play high schoolers. Thankfully, Harold & Kumar the main characters, were approriately aged as recently-out-of-college 20-somethings.
There isn’t anything remarkable, positively or negatively, about the production of the movie itself. Run of the mill cinematography and direction. The actors playing the ethnically (vs nationality-wise) korean Harold and indian Kumar keep things pretty interesting and funny. One thing that made a fairly formulaic flick like this watchable was how John Cho (Harold) and Kal Penn (Kumar) avoided the time-and-time again stoner/slacker/tight-ass stereotypes that prevail in these kind of movies.
Worthy of very special note is the cameo by Neil Patrick Harris. I don’t want to spoil too much, but he plays himself and first appears as a hitchhiker that Harold and Kumar pick up. Harris is freakin hilarious, particularly when Harold and Kumar ask him about some of the behind-the-scenes liasons on the set of Doogie Howser, M.D. . His cameo alone is worth sitting through this brisk 90 minute picture.
I had been thinking of purchasing Eurotrip, which I borrowed from a friend a few months ago, but I am glad that I bought this instead. This movie is slightly more clever, and isn’t quite the same tale of rich white kids running around with the sole mission of getting some at the end of the film (the white kids in this film all get their come-uppance!). Unless you’rea fan of this movies few particular quirks that set it apart from other movies in the genre , then I might not buy this moviefor more than the $15.99 that I got it for (which is a tad expensive even). Go head and rent it. As much as I enjoyed it, I imagine this fim will be in the $10 within a year or so.
-Incidentally, I used to live with a 6-foot tall Korean guy named Harold when I was in college… maybe that’s why I identify with this movie so much 🙂