Review:
"A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas"
Release Date: Nov. 4, 2011
Rating: R Running Time: 89 minutes Ding dong merrily on high, indeed. In A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, the White Castle-craving stoners take to the road again, this time in search of a 12-foot Christmas tree. Why? Because the first thing Karl Penn’s Kumar does after seeing John Cho’s Harold for the first time in years is to burn down the tree grown by Harold’s yuletide-crazed father-in-law. And if your father-in-law happens to be Machete’s Danny Trejo, wouldn’t you want to replace the tree before he gets home from midnight mass and notices something is not quite right? Nothing is ever easy with Harold and Kumar, especially when weed and other drugs are thrown into the mix. So naturally their evening includes fending off Russian mobsters, shooting down Santa Claus, getting a toddler hooked on coke, and inadvertently crossing paths with old pal Neil Patrick Harris. All this plays out in 3D, and director Todd Strauss-Schulson has a blast sticking anything and everything in our faces, from the perfect smoke ring to a certain part of the male anatomy. He actually makes good use of the 3D technology at his disposal, which is something that can’t be said of other directors this past year. It all results in some outrageous moments, including a snow monster attack executed in claymation and a disturbing homage to one of A Christmas Story’s most famous scene. Harris, of course, gets up to all sorts of mayhem as his Harold & Kumar’s mischief-making horn-dog alter ego NHP. Still, there are times when this third Harold & Kumar misadventure feels like it holding back. Maybe it’s because A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas gets too caught up in asking whether pot can and should play a role in the live of two 30somethings about to take on greater responsibilities in their lives. It slows things down. And a clean and sober Harold is not a funny Harold. Not that screenwriters Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg are truly committed to answering the question that lies at the heart of A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. It’s just an excuse to get Harold and Kumar high at the wrong time and at the wrong place. Robert Sims Aired: Nov. 4, 2011 Web site: http://haroldandkumar.warnerbros.com/dvd/site.html |
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