Review by Kam Williams

At first blush, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle sounds like your average irreverent teensploit, especially since it borrows its basic elements from such memorable comedy classics as Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke and Office Space. This madcap buddy flick revolves around the day-in-the-life road adventures of a couple of stoners criss-crossing the countryside in search of their favorite fast-food hamburger.

The picture's plot actually most resembles that of the already derivative Dude, Where's My Car, which was also directed by Danny Leiner. But instead of a pair of pot-smoking, lobotomized losers, Leiner's protagonists, this time, are two academic overachievers who share the same recreational, narcotics habit.

Korean-American Harold (John Cho) is an exploited, under-appreciated, yuppie investment banker, while his Indian-American roommate, Kumar, is a nerd who is half-heartedly applying to medical school due to parental pressure to follow in his father's footsteps.

The fun starts in Harold and Kumar's Hoboken apartment one Friday evening when these eggheads decide to unwind by smoking some marijuana in front of the TV. Each develops a case of the munchies after watching a mouthwatering commercial for White Castle. They both lock-in on the delectable little burgers so lustfully that nothing else could possibly satiate their hunger.

This is the point of departure of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, an over-the-top romp which rehashes lots of dumb drug jokes but breaks far enough away from the tried-and-true teen formula to earn a high mark even from this jaded critic. What makes this film different is that it is presented from a novel perspective, that of first-generation from immigrants from minority groups ordinarily marginalized by Hollywood.

You've probably seen Messrs. Penn and Cho on plenty of occasions before, but in a very limited capacity as stereotypical Indian and Asian characters, respectively. Kal, who has appeared in 20 movies in his brief career, was unforgettable as Taj Majal, the scene-stealing second banana in National Lampoon's Van Wilder. He has also enjoyed bit roles playing people with names like Ajay, Sanjay, Mohan, Hadji, Jagdesh, Najaran, Prajeeb and Fez Boy.

John, who distinguished himself in a recurring cameo in the American Pie trilogy, has himself been heretofore relegated to unremarkable minor roles as guys called Fengmo, Trung, Wo Chin, Chang, Quon, and the like. Here, he is finally able to blossom into a fully fleshed-out person, as Harold, Kumar's uptight straight man.

The seemingly rudderless sojourn has our hapless heroes careening all about the State of New Jersey from Hoboken to Newark to Freehold to Princeton to Cherry Hill and parts betwixt and between. Every encounter is invariably bizarre, whether witnessing a robbery in the ghetto, crashing a bash on an elite campus, or being teased mercilessly at a convenience store by a bunch of rednecks.

After an absurd Twilight Zone-ish moment when they are inexplicably carjacked by Neil Patrick Harris (aka TV's Doogie Howser), they hop onto the back of a cheetah which conveniently happens to be passing by. Besides Harris, notable cast members include comedian Anthony Anderson as a minimum wage slave in an idiot hat, Jamie Kennedy as a creepy Jesus freak oozing puss from every pore, and Fred Willard as the weirdest of doctors.

Sometimes, getting there is all the fun, and Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle is a kooky case in point. Not much more than a series of off-the-wall, side-splitting skits, but presented from a refreshingly new point-of-view which will undoubtedly spawn a rash of imitators.

The first hilarious gross-out flick of the year.

Excellent (4 stars)
Rated R for heavy use of profanity, graphic sexuality, female frontal nudity, crude humor, ethnic jokes, and violence.