Click Here For Our Interview with John Cho and Kal Penn

Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle

OK, it’s T. Sweezy and I’m back in the review seat. This time it’s for
another guaranteed “sleeper”, but after reading this review I hope you
won’t be one of the losers, oops, I mean “snoozers” (ha, ha… uh pardon me).

Now, we all have to agree, with a title like… Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, realistically, how many people would actually want to
see this movie??? Not to mention bringing up the title, except of course
to goof on it… And with that train of thought, I didn’t even invite
anyone to see this movie with me, I can still clearly remember what
happened when I invited them to see Soul Plane… damn! Nah, I had to do
this solo!!! (See Soul Plane review)

And as before with Soul Plane (and by this time I’m swearing that I
ALWAYS get the “dicky” assignments, then I wonder… “who the hell did
I piss-off???”), something that I almost protested against seeing turned
out to be a “Diamond In The Rough”, in other the words…
“The Sh*t Was TIGHT”!!!

As I continue with my comparison of this movie to Soul Plane, this movie
bites racism in the ass hard, as well, with a lot of negative stereotypes
for people of Asian & East Indian descent. But unlike Soul Plane, I doubt
if it will receive as much protesting from those two communities, but we’ll
see… I’m sure “someone” will bitch about it. I saw it as tasteful and
presented all in fun…

Anyway, taking place in, of all places, NJ, the movie goes like this…

Harold, played by John Cho (from the American Pie trilogy), is an
average guy, very responsible, and who is used to taking sh*t from
everybody (and handles it pretty well). He comes home to find his
rebellious-spirited roommate Kumar, played by Kal Penn (Van Wilder /
Malibu's Most Wanted) standing in front of the mirror, butt-ass-naked,
clipping his pubes… ugh, not cute!!! (Sorry I went there…)

Well back to the story…

Kumar is a highly intelligent dude, who’s just happens to be an exam
away from being a medical doctor… but can’t take life that seriously.

As they dialogue in their

apartment about everyday life and what they’re
going to do for the weekend, they decide “hey, let’s get high”… so they pull
out the stash and start to blaze-up. While they’re getting lit, they’re
zoning out & buggin’ to the images on TV, when they just so happen to come
across a White Castle commercial (this commercial was soooo tight that
it made me hungry… damn!). Upon seeing this commercial they both get
silent, and after watching it they both decide that they gotta have it…
they crave the wave… let’s GO TO WHITE CASTLE!!!

Now, the journey has been planned and set… I say journey, because this
is where the bulk of the movie lies. I mean damn, there’s got to be a
better way to get to White Castle. But all of the episodes that these
two will go through (to get some damn White Castle) is hilarious…

A simple run to a local fast food joint, turns out to be a nightmare,
I mean… how can it get so bad…

Please allow me to break it down…

First they hit a fast food joint that used to be White Castle, only to
find that it has changed locations and the closest one is… oh… about,
two hours away… so they decide to trek it (but hey, if you crave the
wave, then nothing else will do, right???)

During their trek, they ran into so many things, so many people, so many
lifestyles that I never knew existed in NJ…

In my opinion, one of the memorable “stand-out” scenes was when their
car got stranded and out of nowhere comes this auto repair guy (as if
he was hunting for stranded people or something…). His name, Freakshow
(and you’ll see why when you see the movie), played by Christopher Meloni
(Law & Order: S.V.U.). This scene was truly a heart-stopper, because you
couldn’t predict what these guys were getting themselves into (or how they
would get out of it)… oh my goodness…

And then, there was the scene with Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, M.D.) who played himself… and for the cherry on top… Harold’s love interest
was Paula Garces (Clockstoppers / Marci X)… nice choice!

On the creative tip… the director for this movie was Danny Leiner
of Dude, Where's My

Car?” fame… and you can expect the same kinda
vibe for this movie as well.

Final Note:

This movie was funny, despite its blatant-in-yo-face use of stereotypes.
I liked it, and I don’t believe that you need “thick skin” to enjoy it.
Never Judge A Book By Its Cover & DON’T SLEEP!!!

Movie Grade: B+

Synopsis: Follows two likeable underdogs who set out on a Friday night quest to satisfy their craving for White Castle hamburgers and end up on an epic journey of deep thoughts, deeper inhaling and a wild road trip.