Review of A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011) by Glenn C — 04 Mar 2013

The problem with holiday themed movies is that they're only released during holidays (derr). And so "A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas" was released at cinemas in 2011 but not on dvd until 2012.

.. After some (well, not a lot) anticipation I finally caught up with it and my expectations have been satisfied. Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle (2004) was something of a stoner masterpiece. Watching it with friends was one of the funniest movie experiences I can recall.

.. and then part 2 came along and ruined it. Sure, it had it's moments but overall it took the original stoner-stupidity and replaced it with crude, vulgar slapstick which failed epically. So now part 3 has come along and returned the series to a more modest story (that sounds ridiculous when talking about Harold & Kumar) with a greater emphasis on getting wasted and less on gross out offensive humour.

It's been 7 years and the two guys are now estranged, living separate lives until a mysterious gift addressed to Harold lands on Kumar's door, bringing them together for a massive christmas eve of drugs, girls and gangsters.

I had a lot of fun watching it but became a little tired of the 3D gags... fortunately they're mostly self referential so its easy to ignore. The film looks good and has most of the original qualities to it.

I actually feel stupid even writing this much about a movie like Harold & Kumar because it simply is what it is. There's no cinematic heights being reached and its purely adolescent... EXACTLY what one hopes for.

Very fun!