Do you have a problem with blood, drugs, violence, drugs, penises, drugs, boobs, marijuana, cocaine, explosions, ecstasy, children on drugs or drug humor?
Yes?
Then you probably didn't like the first two Harold and Kumar films. Go away.
Are the downers gone?
Good.
On to the review!
A Very Harold& Kumar 3D Christmas is the sort of film that cannot in any way jump the shark. The first movie started out jumping the shark. It was ridiculous, goofball stoner humor from the word go. By the time a third installment comes along, the shark is a thousand meters long and a football field high, has lasers for eyes and must be flown over by a subspace sonic jet. Piloted by a stoner.
The movie starts off with enough self-reference to fill an entire satire. It has winking nods to itself as a movie and as a 3D vehicle, and it does so with such a smirk and a shrug that you have no choice but to either enjoy it or just walk the hell out of the theater right then and there, because it's not getting any different from here on out.
Harold (John Cho) is a happily married, successful Wall Street businessman whose only goal on Christmas Eve is to make his father-in-law happy. Kumar (Kal Penn), meanwhile, hasn't heard from his erstwhile stoner friend in two years and is now single, alone, and depressed. To say that weed is his only solace is to say that a man in a million dollar car is only compensating for a small penis. We both know there's no way to exaggerate the truth.
After some plot layout and discovering that holy shit Patton Oswalt is in this! So is Thomas Lennon as Harold's 'best friend' Todd! Whoa Danny Trejo is playing the father-in-law, Mr. Perez! Kumar receives a package on his doorstep that is addressed to Harold, heads over there and...surprise surprise, drug-related wacky hijinks ensue.
Basically, Kumar accidentally destroys a Christmas tree that was raised by Mr. Perez for 8 years and is the difference between a happy Christmas and a terrible one. This is what drives the rest of the plot forward and allows our drugged-up duo to endure a mobster, Neil Patrick Harris, a lovesick waffle making robot, a giant killer snowman and various other zany antics.
There are a few running gags that help to advance the plot, like Kumar's nerdy friend trying to lose his virginity and Todd's 3 year old daughter being inadvertently exposed to more and more powerful illegal narcotics during the course of the film. They also do a good job of giving cameos to pretty much every character who was in the last two. The only person you don't see who had a decent part in the first films is Freakshow, but the guy who I keep confusing for Christopher Meloni, Elias Koteas, does play a memorably entertaining character.
The 3D is also used perfectly for a film that does not stop advertising itself as a 3D movie. It's over-the-top but fun. Everything that can be 3D is 3D, and it's always seems to maximize the humor, similar to how Jackass 3D used the technology.
Go ahead and see A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas if you enjoyed the first two. You can go into it knowing that they did not change the formula. As far as stoner movies go, it's definitely more Half-Baked than Dazed and Confused. The gore is definitely over the top and not really necessary, but it doesn't overshadow the fact that this is a crude, drug-fueled romp. I imagine this is the sort of movie that gets made when a studio says "Here's a few million dollars. Make us a movie that'll make our stoner nephew laugh."
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