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Review #639 of 365
Movie Review of Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008) [R] 102 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $3.00
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When Seen: 28 April 2008
Time: 5:35 pm
DVD Release Date: 29 July 2008 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
Soundtrack: Download now from 
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Directed by: Jon Hurwitz (debut) and Hayden Schlossberg (debut)
Written by: Jon Hurwitz (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle ) • Hayden Schlossberg (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle) with characters by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
John Cho (American Dreamz) • Kal Penn (Epic Movie) • Rob Corddry (Semi-Pro) • Jack Conley (Over Her Dead Body) • Roger Bart (American Gangster) • Neil Patrick Harris (Undercover Brother) • Danneel Harris ("One Tree Hill") • Eric Winter ("Brothers & Sisters") • Paula Garcés ("The Shield") • James Adomian ("The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" ) • Amir Talai (Fighting Words) • David Krumholtz (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story) • Eddie Kaye Thomas (Blind Dating)
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When American Pie hit theatres, it was fresh, hilarious, and different. Doubtful it's irreverent creators would predict they had spawned a film genre. Unfortunately, no one has ever come close, not even they with their AP sequels, to re-creating the brilliance of the original, and now with Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (H&K2) it's time to close the coffin on this dead end genre as the films keep getting worse and worse. The worst part of this film is not the 'who can gross out the other guy more' scenes, not the constant references to male anatomy-focused humor, not incessant portrayal of unpleasantly in-your-face female anatomy, not the inane story line, not the Neil Patrick Harris gigacameo, not the perpetual racial and gender-biased stereotypes and poor-taste humor, not that a decently talented Kal Penn demeans himself to appear in the film, not the pathetic portrayals of mind-numbingly boring characters with seasoned up with stale dialogue, not the never-ending drug, alcohol, drunk, stoned references; nope none of these is as bad as that this film's creators co-writers and co-directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg might have thought that somehow by ending the film with a 10-minute drugged out, satirical portrayal of George W. Bush by impersonator James Adomian, they might earn some political cache among people who are ready for a local regime change. Well, no! Sorry, but even that's not going to work to bring in an audience for this sequel to what should have been a straight to DVD film (Harold and Kumar go to White Castle) in the first place.
Not from the opening sequence which hinges on an elderly woman confusing Kumar Patel's smokeless marijuana puffing device for a bomb aboard an airliner (gee are there many people that think this is funny?) and he and Harold Lee (John Cho) for terrorists landing them to be taken down by doofy-looking Federal Air Marshalls and imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay by Homeland Security Asst. Director Ron Fox (Rob Corddry), until the very end of the film when Kumar finally gets his dream girl in Amsterdam does this film ever, not even for a moment, deem itself worthy of watching with one's eyes open and one's ears unplugged. Poorly written nonsense that's an utter and colossal waste of time, this film is even worse than Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj also starring non-coincidentally, Kal Penn. Poor John Cho who tries to play the straight-laced foil to Mr. Penn's Kumar. He might have some talent, but it would be indiscernible in this film in this role. Rob Corddry seems to have decided to make these kinds of films his mainstay, well, best of luck with that.
…flim flam flop of a film…
Good thing all of the actors involved got paid up front because doing the role for a percentage of the profits would have been a pretty big mistake. Why on earth the marketing dept. waited to release the this film so close to the summer blockbuster season is pure nonsense as H&K2 will be pushed to economy screens within moments. Back in February, it might have had a chance to survive more than a week on the fumes of shear boredom, but not now. With limited film-going funds and ticket prices on the rise, there would be no conceivable reason to shell out dough to see this flim flam flop of a film, ever, not even on a legal download service six weeks from now when it will likely become available. Save your brain cells and your wallet, avoid this film at all costs. And somebody, please advise NPH that if he was trying to resuscitate his film career, well, this was probably not the right vehicle.
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Cast Members
John Cho • Kal Penn • Rob Corddry
Jack Conley • Roger Bart • Neil Patrick Harris
Danneel Harris • Eric Winter • Paula Garcés
James Adomian • David Krumholtz
Director
Jon Hurwitz () and Hayden Schlossberg
Writers
Jon Hurwitz • Hayden SchlossbergPoster
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Review-lite
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008) [max of 150 words]
Pointless film flam flop of a film featuring Kal Penn and John Cho as Kumar Patel and Harold Lee this time up to their hi jinx that land them in Guantamo Bay Prison as suspected terrorists by an overly zealous and unintelligent Ron Fox (Rob Corddry). Inane, gross, senseless, this film which might have aspired to some sense of fresh political satire is just pointless and dull. If you've got money to burn, buy a can of paint, paint your wall, and watch it dry, you'll have more fun than sitting through this idiotic film written and directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg.
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