Black & White World

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)

Very engaging stoner/road trip/buddy comedy, with John Cho as Harold the uptight, overworked number cruncher, and Kal Penn as Kumar, his laid-back, underachieving roommate.  Their quest for White Castle burgers takes them on a journey that, while familiar to any viewer of coming-of-age comedies, still contains enough surprises and delights to keep the laughs coming.

Cho and Penn are both very likeable heroes and turn in winning performances.  It’s almost a shame, then, that the movie is practically stolen out from under them by the outrageous performance of Neil Patrick Harris as a “child star gone bad” version of himself.  Almost a shame, but not quite, since NPH’s appearance elevates the movie from “fun stoner comedy” to “awesome fun stoner comedy.”

Occasionally, the humor veers from silly-funny to silly-stupid, and a few of the escapades go on a little too long.  The Freakshow sequence, for example, didn’t keep me all that interested.  The themes of racial tolerance are a tad simplistic and one-note, but that’s not to say the message isn’t a good one.  Lots of laughs, and that’s what you want in a stoner comedy, after all.  It did make me crave White Castle, though.