Weed for All

So Harold (John Cho) is now an established investment banker, married into a rather mercurial Hispanic family with Mr Perez (Danny Trejo) for a father in law. And Kumar (Kal Penn) has not been with Harold for two long years. It takes a Christmas gift to bring them together. And – surprise, surprise, it takes a Christmas tree in flames to keep them together from there on. In the middle of it all, we have babies high on acid, a Neil Patrick Harris in his version of heaven, and a Santa shot down from the skies in the line of duty. And much more besides. While A very Harold and Kumar Christmas is no doubt a one-of-a-kind Christmas movie, and very watchable, in a series of three movies, this installment comes in a reasonably distant third

13/20

The Free Generation

Harold and Kumar is one of the most interesting media to convey the immigrant dilemma in America with startling clarity. Here in Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, the intrepid duo escape inhibition and racist slurs, angsty trysts with extended families and oppressive Investment Banking bosses, run-ins with “white boys” that give them a hard time – all in their singleminded quest for those little things that embody the Great American Dream – coke and pizza, hash, and pussy. Yet again the movie trails off with Amsterdam and free will. Yet another entertainer, but not one that deals with quite as many issues as its successor (Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay)

12.5/20

Leave us Alone

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanomo Bay can be watched at two levels. At one level is the obvious frivolity and cock-a-snook at a dozen different themes ranging from homeland security and racial profiling, to the untamed South (overtones of O Brother Where art Thou) and the dark side of politics. At a more subliminial level is an America, or at least some of its minorities, gasping for breath and clamoring for its constitutional right to be just left alone, the right to smoke weed and have one-on-one consensual relationships, without judgementality creeping in. This movie is worth a watch at this time - none of the fervour of say a Lions for Lambs or the Michael Moore kind, but no less effective in delivering a clear undertonal message of individual freedom. Quite a change for Kal Penn from The Namesake, is it not?