A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas Movie

The Harold & Kumar franchise is beginning to show signs of wear and tear, yet it still packs fun and laughs because of its actors and the lively, upbeat material. That's not to say the material is always shining, in fact, in terms of writing, this is probably the raunchiest installment in the franchise yet. Which doesn't mean it is the funniest. This may be the least funny of the series, yet this seems on the same level as Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, an inferior but amusing sequel.

Being faced with the third installment is always an iffy place to be. Especially when you see it end. You try and think to yourself whether or not a sequel will be made. Here? I'm honestly not sure. I don't want there to be, but there are a few set ups which make it seem like they are considering it. No sequel will match the humor the introduction to these characters brought us. It was erected from the simplicity of the story and the extreme likability of the characters.

John Cho and Kal Penn, who took a leave from his position at the White House, reprise their roles as the stoner duo who have now been out of contact for six years. Harold is a successful Wall Street banker, while Kumar is busy sitting on his couch with his buddy, smoking pot, and waiting for the next random hookup. Harold is married to the love of his life Maria (Garces), and her side of the family, including her father (Trejo), is coming over on Christmas Eve.

Maria's family is made up of thugs with tattoos and heavy muscles. Her father loves Christmas and cherishes it because when he was young he never had a respectable celebration with his family. When Maria and her family leave to attend a Midnight Mass, Harold is left in charge to decorate the authentic Christmas tree. Kumar comes over, and the duo accidentally burn down the tree (think hard, and the way they do it will come to you).

Harold and Kumar now team up to try and find a new Christmas movies download tree for the family before the family comes home. Joining them for a brief amount of time on their adventure is Harold's friend, a new father with a child and Kumar's buddy who is hellbent on having sex with a young virgin. The baby jokes almost completely destroy the film with her inhaling marijuana smoke and cocaine. The result isn't laughter, but a cringing factor that can easily destroy a comedy film.

Thankfully, those two "characters" are abandoned while the real stars do what they do best. Wander around aimlessly, falling into comedic traps that are sometimes funny and sometimes not. Somewhere along the way in the second film, Harold & Kumar morphed into a strange, comedic fantasy rather than a straight forward comedy.

There was a gag in the second film about a child with a severe birth defect giving him only one eye, and very many scenes in this film involving fictionalized events such as a baby crawling around on the roof after getting mixed in with cocaine and the certain appearance of a jolly character. We begin to question why did the filmmakers feel the need to incorporate such far-fetched elements in a comedy. I believe it just adds to the phrase "stoner comedy film." As far as the 3D aspect of the film, it's there but not necessary. It looks better than a lot of 3D films I've seen over the years, but the extra ticket price is absurd for a film like this. One thing that incredibly aggravates me about this film is the fact that it is what I call a "3D abuser." This is the reason why 3D is a lose-lose for a movie; if you incorporate too many 3D elements in the film (IE: throwing things at the audience or having an opening credit sequence devoted to using the extra dimension) it will look awkward and out of place by the time you watch the 2D DVD. If you don't put the dimension to use and don't utilize enough, the film will be criticized for even using it in the first place. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, when titled something like A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas on DVD, will look awkward and very, very strange on a 2D disc.

But numerous pluses continue to put a smile on my easily pleased face. The presence of Neil Patrick Harris, the use of the two leads to the fullest degree, the excellent claymation sequence, and the touching ending show just what the franchise has long been about. Heart and hilarity. As much as I loved the first film and have a soft spot for each sequel, it's time for a good thing to come to an end. The series has just about overstayed its welcome, and another sequel could very much put an unwanted stain on the fabric of the franchise, like so many filmmakers feel like doing to franchises now.

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas is good, pre-holiday fun. It's not as downbeat and as miserable as Bad Santa, yet it doesn't have the pleasing plot of a Christmas classic. It takes its R rating, embraces it, and is proud of the way its traveled. After all, adventures to White Castle, Guantanamo Bay, and a search for a giant Christmas tree in the span of a few years is what I would call a long odyssey. An odyssey that should dock and deport before it goes into uncharted territory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ks8iWmz928

Back in high school, my friend and I purchased a rubber chicken that made orgasm noises every time you squeezed it. The harder the squeeze, the higher pitched the sound. We thought it would make a funny birthday gift. Being the immature teens that we were, we also thought it woul... read mored be funny to continually squeeze the chicken in the food court. Nearby there was a mother, no older than 35, with her two children. I looked over at her. She was clearly trying to make a straight face, and maintain a real composure in front of her kids. When it was time to leave, my friend was having trouble fitting the chicken in his knapsack. He shoved it in. The chicken squeeled louder than any orgasm I'd ever heard up to that point. Most of the people in the food court turned around to see where that sound came from. But my attention was on the mother, who had finally given up and collapsed in a hoot of laughter.
Why am I telling you this story? Because it relates to A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. Every joke in this movie is just wrong, offensive, and wholly inappropriate. But damn it, it's funny as hell. You may feel like the mother with her children. You shouldn't be laughing at the jokes in this movie, because they are the very jokes you as an adult should wholly disapprove. But you will laugh; you will laugh till it hurts. And hey, there's even a little bit of heart to this movie, about growing up and accepting the responsibilities that come with it. However, you're not watching this movie for that. You're watching it because you want to laugh at a baby getting high off weed, coke, and ecstasy. Yes, as a mature human being, you shouldn't think that's funny. But you do.

Harold: Dude, we're claymated.

It's Christmas in November! I always appreciate a good stoner buddy comedy, which is why I was quite excited for the third entry in the Harold & Kumar series. I did have quite a bit of fun with A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, but the film lacke... read mored the charm of White Castle, but was a vast improvement over Escape from Guantanamo Bay. The latest entry exceeds the previous one on two levels: sharper writing, and a shorter running time. The whole film consists of hit or miss jokes, but is consistent of many misses. Fortunately, once the jokes hit, they hit your funny bone with an iron fist. I have no determination to see this flick again, but it is passable for a one time viewing, especially in jaw-dropping 3D.

After six years of no contact, Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) reunite for one crazy christmas. Harold's father-in-law (Danny Trejo), who brought a sacred home-grown christmas tree puts his trust in Harold to decorate it, but things quickly go wrong once Kumar comes along. Soon after, Harold and Kumar go on the third biggest adventure of their lives, where the encounter Neil Patrick Harris, a pot-driven four year-old, the real-life Santa Claus (Richard Riehle), and a couple of internationally dangerous gangsters.

Christmas came early this year, I suppose. It's quite simple to top Guantanamo Bay, but they could have done a bit more expansion, making it a bit more even. This brings me to an issue I had with this film: the editing. What could have brought my grade up half a star, was brought down by the awful editing in this film. Thankfully, they packed "enough" funny to keep that flaw out of the equation for at least half the film. Still, I felt that the film would have been much more balanced if the film went from scene to scene with an unparalleled amount of confidence.

There are several moments in this that crosses the line of absurdity, easily being the unnecessary spoof of A Christmas Story, as well as the first five seconds of the claymation sequence. Granted, I did enjoy the use of claymation in the film, as well as I enjoyed it in the last Christmas episode of the NBC comedy Community. So I believe that this is a fine source of comedy in anything, considering that it's mostly Tim Burton who uses the filming style of claymation nowadays. Anyways, as short as it was, there is a good amount of fun to be seen watching Harold and Kumar running in a claymated world from a giant, evil snowman.

As I mentioned, the comedy in this is hit or miss, and aside from the claymation scene and a couple of other scenes involving Santa Claus, a coked-out baby, and Neil Patrick Harris, there aren't many memorable laughs in this. I just want to point out that Patton Oswalt was robbed of his screen time, and should be featured in many, many more films (he's a favorite of mine). Also, I usually enjoy Danny Trejo, but he didn't seem to fit into this film. Trejo was good in Machete, The Devil's Rejects, hell, I even enjoyed him in the Spy Kid trilogy (I refuse to see the abomination that is Spy Kids: All The Time In The World).

Finally, John Cho and Kal Penn are at the top of their games, yet again. Seeing Penn's awful performance in the past few episodes of How I Met Your Mother put me down for him in this film, but he was able to impress me once more with his great variation of the pot smoking character of Kumar. John Cho hasn't been on the radar very much lately, considering his last big film was a minor role in the Star Trek reboot, so it was good seeing him back on the big screen, even though his character undergoes some serious images that I STILL cannot seem to get out of my head (you have been warned!). These buddies together have fantastic chemistry, and are extremely believable as best buddies. They are easily the best aspect of the film.

It's been quite some time since I've seen an actual film shot in 3D, rather than being released with a horrible conversion (Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor, this list could go on and on). It's made abundantly clear throughout the film that 3D is a ridiculous invention created solely for the scheme of making money. Seeing that this film isn't doing so hot at the box office, I am vastly certain that 3D does not serve as a moneymaking scheme all of the time (see Shark Night 3D, Fright Night 3D). There are some good uses of 3D though, such as Avatar, Green Lantern, etc). All-in-all, the 3D wasn't definitely necessary, but was worth seeing in it.

The Harold & Kumar series has always been hit or miss, and while the first one was consistent solely of non-stop hits, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas is a mixed bag, with a couple of humorous moments, along with a bunch of unnecessary moments. A vast improvement over the second, but not a very good one.