A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS... I finally got around to seeing the third installment in the stoner movie franchise yesterday, and story-wise, it was decent. Kal Penn took a break from working for President Obama at the White House to reunite with John Cho and go on another wacky weed-related adventure...this time looking for the perfect Christmas tree instead of the perfect White Castle burger. Neil Patrick Harris once again steals the show when he makes a cameo as a gay-dude-playing-a-straight-guy-who-poses-as-a-gay-dude in Harold & Kumar 3. The lovely Paula Garcés and Danneel Harris—err, Ackles (she’s now married to Jensen Ackles of the hit CW TV show Supernatural in real life) also return, with Garcés' character Maria now married to Harold...and Vanessa, played by Ackles, thinking Kumar is an immature pothead despite him escaping from Guantanamo Bay in the second flick to win back her love (with some help by George Dubya Bush). A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas also stars Patton Oswalt (from the CBS TV show King of Queens), Danny Trejo (a.k.a. Machete), Eddie Kaye Thomas (who worked with John Cho on the America Pie flicks, including next year’s American Reunion) and Elias Koteas (of such movies as Let Me In, Shutter Island and the Oscar-nominated film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).
3D-wise, Harold & Kumar 3 looked good in the format. The film was clearly poking fun at this gimmick...but it actually had some cool shots which included an Asian dude (not John Cho) getting bombarded with eggs by a bunch of Wall Street protesters in New York City, broken window shards flying towards the camera after Harold and Kumar throw a burning Christmas tree through it, and numerous scenes where smoke from lit joints and even cocaine powder fly around the room. The movie makes good use of a toy robot ("Wafflebot") that’s able to both make waffles and incapacitate bad guys with hot syrup at the same time. And of course, Santa Claus shows up to help Harold and Kumar get through their wacky ordeal despite Santa getting a shotgun wound to the head earlier, courtesy of Harold. There’s also a funny claymation scene that’s as bloody as anything you would see in an Eli Roth horror flick. Well, sort of.
All-in-all, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas is good fun. It has the usual brand of gratuitous nudity and penis jokes (and some blasphemous takes on Jesus and the Catholic Church...but I’m not a fanatical God-boy so I’ll let them slide), but what else would you expect from the popular stoner comedy? Harold & Kumar 3 (it’s too much of a hassle to always typing the actual title) makes up for this by showing what a dude would do to make his wife happy and earn the respect of her father. I’m talking about Harold and Maria, of course. Kumar is the immature pothead. But yes, he wins back Vanessa at the end as well. That is all.
I wonder if something like Wafflebot is actually sold in stores? Probably not.
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