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In "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay," John Cho and
Kal Penn reprise their roles from "Harold and Kumar Go to White
Castle." Harold Lee (John Cho ) is Korean-American and Kumar Patel
(Kal Penn) is Indian-American.
Warning: "Harold & Kumar" films are not for the
easily-offended, faint-hearted, the squeamish, high-brow intellectuals,
or the repressed. In this era of heightened political-correctness and
fear of everything and everybody in the matter of 9/ll and the
"war on terror," writers/directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden
Schlossberg unapologetically demolish the firewall of circumspection
regarding patriotism, culture, social mores, racism, sexism, and
ageism. So they use a no-holds-barred approach. As an added attraction,
they include the character of George W. Bush as the hard-drinking,
pot-smoking good ol’ boy we all suspect he is in the privacy of his
Texas ranch.
"Escape" is a fast-paced, laugh-out-loud (even when you know
you shouldn’t) film, which picks up where "Castle" ends and
carries on in the same vein. Kumar’s ex-girlfriend, Vanessa (Daneel Harris),
is about to be married, in Texas, to a white, Republican jock, Cotton
Graham (Eric Winter), who has close ties to the Bush administration. He
has told the guys to call him if they ever need his help.
In the airport, on their way to Amsterdam, the recently-dumped pothead
Kumar and the serious, computer nerd Harold are stopped in the security
line by a race-profiling guard. Indignant, Kumar calls him on it, and
they are passed through. On the plane, an obviously affluent, elderly
woman sees Kumar as a turbaned, bearded terrorist.
Kumar, who can’t think beyond his next toke,
has sneaked onto the plane his "smokeless" bong invention,
which looks like an explosive device. He accidentally drops it in the
aisle and someone shouts, "Bomb!" Passengers panic big time.
The boys are tackled and shackled by huge on-board, undercover Special
Agents and transported to Guantanamo Bay.
Faced with the threat of sodomy and forced oral copulation by
shaven-headed, giant, hunky guards, they escape, using the electrocuted
body of an unsuccessful escapee draped over the shorted-out electric
fence. Now, Kumar must get to Texas to stop the wedding.
They sail to Miami on a makeshift boat full of Cuban refugees. Once
back in the U.S., Harold and Kumar outwit, outrun, and outdrive the CIA
and local authorities. Playing to secret service stereotypes are Ron
Fox (Rob Choddry), a hyper, frenetic CIA agent and his wimpy, Clark
Kentish side-kick, Dr. Jack Beecher (Roger Bart).
Crossing through the South, with the CIA on their heels, the fugitives
tangle with the Klan (who do good "‘que"). The boys’ stoner
friends (characters from the "Castle" film) help the
fugitives. Neil Patrick Harris, who plays himself, is a hallucinating
‘shroom addict (he sees rainbows and unicorns everywhere). There are
very weird bits: in the obligatory whorehouse, and then at a friend’s
women-only "bottomless" party.
Fox and a cohort interrogate Harold and Kumar’s parents. Assuming them
to be recent immigrants, they question them in fake Korean. Insulted, as
they are American citizens, they respond in perfect English, which the
agents somehow fail to understand. Yet, Fox believes Harold and Kumar
are terrorists: A North Korean in cahoots with al-Qaeda, members of the
Axis of Evil!
Finally, the guys make it to the wedding site. Cotton betrays them, has
them flown back to Guantanamo with Fox and Beecher. But the guys
literally crash Bush’s Crawford ranch home, where they meet The Man.
An excellent James Adomian plays Bush with spot-on physical mannerisms
and speech pattern. "I thought you were Cheney," he drawls,
"That guy scares the crap outta me!" Bush also confesses that
he doesn’t believe in the government. "You can love your
country," he opines, "but you don’t have to believe in the
government to be a patriot." Note taken.
"Escape" from terrorist paranoia, global warming, the
economy, the presidential election, and rocketing gas prices. Go see
this film. As in all comedies, all’s well that ends well.
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