Harold and Kumar movies are, shall we say... an acquired taste, and trying to explain one of them is like trying to explain Twitter to one of your grandparents – it’s not easy. So let me just try this: A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas is just as stupid, just as irrelevant as the first two instalments of the series, and that’s exactly what makes it so funny.
Six years have passed since the events of Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, and sadly our two heroes (if you can call them that) are no longer friends. Kumar has been kicked out of medical school – naturally, for failing a drug test – and now just sits at home, doing exactly what you’d expect him to be doing.
Harold on the other hand is a successful investment banker and has recently gotten married. For him life is sweet. There’s just one problem – his father-in-law (Danny Trejo) hates him and he, along with the rest of his wife’s family, are coming for Christmas. When a package addressed to Harold arrives at Kumar’s door, Kumar promptly delivers it and the two are finally reunited. Of course, as it always happens whenever Harold and Kumar get together, chaos ensues, and the two of them are sent out on a mission to replace Harold’s father-in-law’s prized Christmas tree.
The movie suffers from a slow start just setting up all these details, but once it gets going it’s a force to be reckoned with, moving from set piece to set piece at a blistering pace. Some of them are of course better than others, but rarely did I find a moment in the last hour of this movie where I wasn’t at least somewhat entertained.
And that’s probably because the Christmas theme surprisingly suits this franchise. From an absolutely ridiculous run-in with Santa Claus, to a wonderfully destructive claymation sequence, to a cringe-inducing play on the classic A Christmas Story tongue-on-pole gag, this duo marvellously subverts many of the staples of the genre and yet still manage to keep the spirit of the holiday intact... well at least in their own little way.
The highlight of the film though had to be Neil Patrick Harris’s cameo. It was as if the movie found another gear the second he walked into frame. It’s just hard not to love the man’s incredible self-awareness of his own public persona. While John Cho and Kal Penn may hold the film’s title roles, NPH is just as important to the franchise as any of them.
As for the 3D aspect of the movie I was a little less impressed. At times Harold and Kumar does a great job of undermining the ridiculousness of the format, showing an astute awareness of how gimmicky the technology has gotten over the past few years. Other times though, it resorts to the same stupid sight gags that plague many of its counterparts and by doing so somewhat subverts its own message. In the end, I’m just not sure it was totally worth the effort or the higher ticket prices.
But there’s a lot of life left in these characters and the Harold and Kumar franchise still has the same charm it debuted with some 7 years ago. It’s certainly not a movie for everyone – some will be offended – but the series has carved out a unique voice for itself and to me that’s something worth celebrating.
