Heedless stoners may be the text, but racism and prejudice are the subtext, really the subject, of "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay." Ingenious bonger Kumar Patel (Kal Penn) has invented a smokeless device that will allow him to get as high as his airplane on his flight to Amsterdam with his buddy Harold Lee (John Cho). Needless to say, shit happens, and when smoke from Kumar's broken "smokeless" bong sets off the restroom alarm, passengers misinterpret dark-skinned Kumar's explanation that "It's a bong!" to mean that "It's a bomb!". (One can only wonder if "it's a blog!" will be the framing device of "Harold & Kumar 3".) Harold and Kumar soon find themselves in Guantanamo prison (no charges nor trial necessary for enemy combatants, remember?), and facing the prospect of sucking on their least-favorite kind of prison guard all-meat tube steak. H & K get a chance to escape, and embark on a trek from Miami to Texas in a quest for justice, or at least for the intervention of the powerful. The road movie that ensues is funny, surprising, and incisive in its illumination of the racist facets of America. And through it all, Harold and Kumar seem to understand the odds they're up against, while remaining totally immune from the racist traps of their tormentors.
"Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay" is funny, subversive, and a thought-provoking movie, even if it's disguised as a total stoner distraction. Maybe that is its real insidious distinction. It goes down so easily, but later you think about the issues.
Rated R. 102 minutes. Jon Hurwitz - Director / Writer (characters), Hayden Schlossberg - Director / Writer (characters), Nathan Kahane - Producer, Greg Shapiro - Producer, Daryn Okada - Cinematographer, George S. Clinton - Composer, Tony Fanning - Production Designer, Jeff Freeman - Editor. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Principal actors: John Cho, Kal Penn, Rob Corddry, Roger Bart, Neil Patrick Harris, Kal Penn, Rob Corddry, Roger Bart, and Neil Patrick Harris.
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