A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas

Harold & Kummar movies are mercifully free of hypocrisy, with no taboo left unviolated. This is not a film you take your mother to (let her see it by herself). Everyone is criticizing the 3D as gratuitous, but it was part of the humor, exaggerated like in Piranha 3D. I usually despise 3D as a pointless distraction; this was a rare occasion when it seemed to fit. Pot smoke wafting out towards the audience--what better use of 3D? How could anyone complain about gratuitous 3D given this film's other excesses? One could similarly call the clay animation sequence gratuitous, but it was brilliant! It seems to me that these H&K movies contain some serious messages on drugs, race, and other social issues rolled up with the crude humor.

Morally wrong on soo many levels and unnecessarily filmed in 3D but that somehow managed to work pretty well for the most part but this film is so much fun and hysterically funny that you will have a blast. It's great to see all of these lively and wacky characters come back to the big screen that it should be a every year tradition because their company never gets old and it will have to be one of the best stoner comedies ever as well as Christmas comedy ever next to Christmas Vacation. The thing I like about these movies are that the jokes are relevant, ballsy and unapologetic kind of like Family Guy and they are to me always consistent with making me laugh because of the outrageousness that I just can't get enough of this series, they are on a roll! Overall this is a treat for only fans of the series because if you were offended by them before this one won't change your mind, you will love it or you will hate it, I for one loved it!!!! Bring on more Harold & Kumar!!! Recommended!

I think part of the reason the first movie worked so well is because going to White Castle is, relatively, a very simple, ordinary trip. But when it's Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) it becomes a very wild adventure. I didn't enjoy the second one as much because escaping from Guantanamo Bay wouldn't be an easy task for anybody. For this third movie, Harold and Kumar are back to turn a routine errand into a hair-raising, hazardous experience. Harold has to decorate a Christmas tree.

But when Kumar comes over and accidentally burns down the tree, they then have to find a new one, steal it from a drug-lord gangster thug, try to not rape his daughter, crash a musical production of The Nutcracker, and limit the number of people they shoot and drug (to only Santa Claus and a baby).

The 3D is of course a gimmick. They know that; we know that. It involves joints coming out of the screen and eggs, blood, and guts. It is as juvenile and pointless as you can get. But that is the point.

The jokes are of course offensive. But, again, that's the point. It makes it okay when the out-and-proud Neil Patrick Harris makes gay jokes, or when Cho and Penn make racial jokes.

I enjoyed the journey that they take in "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas". Every time the baby found a new drug to imbibe, or Kumar smoked another joint, I laughed. It's the type of humour that has made the franchise so successful.

"White Castle" and "Guantanamo Bay", superior to this lackluster effort, were both very funny films because these two stoners were always getting in (and out) of trouble, and running into all sorts of people. I'm sorry to say, the world "hilarity" does not apply this time around, because most of the jokes just fall flat. Just because this is a Christmas movie, and not a road trip movie, doesn't mean it can't or for that matter, shouldn't be hilarious. And even another Neil Patrick Harris cameo can't save it. A couple highlights: A musical number with Harris, and the scene (reference to "A Christmas Story") where Harold gets his penis stuck to a pole. Other than those two scenes, there's really nothing to recommend it.

** out of ****

As a standalone christmas movie, it's pretty funny. This conclusion to the classic Harold and Kumar trilogy that began when they went to White Castle before escaping from Guantanamo Bay before finally spending Christmas in New York with friends and family. The first one was a classic while the second one was meh. The third one makes fun use of the 3d pop-up effects to comic use and it's worth watching if you own it on 3d bluray. It's not for kids as it's rated a hard R. Can't wait to see what the duo comes up with in an upcoming animated series!!!