DVD
Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay
07/28/08
In 2004 a little known
movie “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” made a modest $18
million at the box-office, but the film developed a cult
following earning over $30 million in DVD sales. Watching
“Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” was a hilarious ride and
even the secondary characters played by a bunch of pot heads
next door where great, but what really make that movie was
NPH (Neil Patrick Harris). Who would have thought that the
guy that played Doogie in Doogie Howser M.D. could be oh so
good in a raunchy comedy. NPH just about makes the whole
movie and the whole thing just worked. Therefore I’m sorry
to say that they couldn’t capture the magic again in the
sequel “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay“. While
the movie is much more crude, it is just not as funny and
even NPH does not deliver, not because he can’t, but because
they don’t give him enough to work with.
“Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay“ starts off right
where the first movie left off. Harold (John Cho) and Kumar
(Kal Penn) are about to head to Amsterdam following Harold’s
girl Maria. On the plane to Amsterdam, Harold is in the
bathroom when Kumar walks in and takes out his newest
invention a smokeless bong. Harold runs from the bathroom,
but leaves the door open and an older women, thinking the
smokeless bong is a bomb, beings to yell bomb. Harold &
Kumar are sent to Guantanamo Bay as enemy combatants.
However, they escape and hitch a boat ride with a bunch of
Cubans heading to Miami. Once in Miami, they find a way
north and are paired with who else but NPH. Harold and Kumar
are on there way to Texas where Colton Graham (Eric Winter)
might be able to clear up the whole terrorist mess, but
Kumar has other reasons for heading to Texas; he wants to
stop the wedding between his ex-girlfriend Vanessa Fanning (Danneel
Harris) and Colton Graham.
The movie does have a bunch of funny scenes, but it doesn’t
quite live up to its predecessor. The scenes showing the
back story between Vanessa and Kumar where a welcomed
expansion to the story. The scenes with Goldstein and
Rosenberg where hilarious and I which it had more of them
like the first one did. If they ever consider making a
spin-off, it should be about these two.
The worst thing is the underutilization of NPH. He was one
of the things that made the original so good. The writers
hardly give him anything new to do. Like a lot of comedy
sequels, the movie tries the same jokes but in different
ways. The movie didn’t had anything we haven’t seen before.
I heard that they green-lighted a third movie. I hope the
writing will be a lot better and if they figure out a way to
bring back NPH, that they will restore him to the legend we
knew from the first.
The 2-Disk unrated special edition has a bunch of features
and even has something called Dude, Change The Movie. This
feature lets you change the movie by selecting new and
alternate scenes to change the outcome of the movie. I
played with it a little and found it mildly interesting. The
disc also contains commentary with the directors and stars
and a second audio commentary with the directors, the real
Harold Lee and the guy who plays Geroge W. Bush. The second
disk includes a behind the scenes look, 27 deleted scenes, 9
extra scenes, and a Public Service Announcement by Bush.
Also included, a digital copy of the film.
Review
By Brad Peterson
brad@smartcine.com
VIDEO:
1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
AUDIO:
English
5.1 Dolby Digital EX Surround, Stereo Surround
Subtitles - English Spanish - Optional
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Commentary with the Directors
and Stars
Commentary with the directors, the
real Harold Lee and the guy who plays Geroge W. Bush
Dude, Change The Movie - This feature lets you
change the movie by selecting new and alternate scenes to
change the outcome of the movie. I played with it a little
and found it mildly interesting.
Digital Copy of the film
Disk 2
Inside the world of Harold and Kumar - A
behind the scenes look with the writer, director, John Cho
and Kal Penn discussing their roles. (21:34)
Deleted Scenes - 27 deleted scenes are
included with the funnies of the lot being Chloe Bottomless
and Kal Terrorist.
Extras - Nine extra scenes are presented none
of them are any good though.
Bush PSA - A not at all funny public service
announcement by Bush. The last ten seconds are hilarious
(1:55)
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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VIDEO |
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AUDIO |
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FEATURES |
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