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Laramie Movie Scope:
Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Harold and Kumar's ribald adventure

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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June 26, 2008 -- In this vulgar sequel to “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle,” we find the same two Cheech and Chong-like characters in another series of ribald, drug-induced adventures which take them all over the southern United States and halfway around the world, pursued by a dim-witted Homeland Security dude, Ron Fox (Rob Corddry). In this episode, Harold Lee (John Cho) and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn) are mistaken for terrorists by Homeland Security and hauled off to Guantanamo Bay, a real hell hole, where brutal guards demand oral sex from the prisoners. Their stay in Guantanamo is mercifully short. They escape to the states, where they hope to get legal help from a friend, Colton Graham, whose family is politically connected to the highest levels of the Bush administration.

Along the way, they meet a whole variety of colorful characters, including a laid-back pot-smoking president of the United States, George Bush, or at least a caricature of Bush who is surprisingly amiable and candid. They also attend a wild bottomless party in Florida, meet up with some inbred rednecks in the south, wind up in the middle of a KKK rally and get a wild ride from a whacked-out, mushroom-tripping Neil Patrick Harris, who just happens to be the personal hero of bigoted agent Ron Fox. While they are on the run Harold and Kumar continually bicker and fight. Harold blames Kumar for getting them into this mess, and it indeed was Kumar's fault. Harold was on his way to Amsterdam to catch up with his girlfriend before all this happened. Kumar is the one who got them into trouble on the jetliner. Kumar also has a secret agenda. He wants to stop his old girlfriend, Vanessa Fanning (Danneel Harris) from getting married to Colton Graham.

This film contains enough nudity, profanity and sexual situations that it is surprising it is only rated R. It ought to be NC-17. It is funny in places, and it has a thing or two to say about bigotry, stereotypes, politics and justice. Unlike Cheech and Chong, Harold and Kumar also show signs of growing up and becoming adults, which puts them a leg up on a lot of Hollywood comic characters these days. Basically, the structure of this film is a road movie, an X-rated, drug-induced mutation of the old Bob Hope and Bing Crosby road pictures. As such, it has adequate entertainment value for those not offended by the film's prurient content, or who don't mind film's general foolishness. This is a drunken bachelor party kind of movie, more of a rental idea than a full-priced theater movie. It rates a C.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 2008 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)