It has been 6 years since Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) escaped Guantanamo Bay. The two best buddies have grown apart. Harold is a rising executive, married and off the wacky tobacky. Kumar, on the other hand is spiraling toward rock bottom. A mysterious package and a quest to find the perfect Christmas tree will reunite them for another crazy night.
If there is a surprise to A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, it’s the 3D effects. Over the past couple of summers we have been bombarded with 3D. Director Todd Strauss-Schulson knows Americans are getting fed up with the “technology”. So what does he do? Make one of the few films that truly necessitates a 3D presentation by spoofing the very technique. Every scene has a properly rigged exploitation of the 3D, and by going into slow motion it’s easy for the audience to digest.
Neil Patrick Harris returns as the mythical womanizer version of himself. Don’t over think his impact on the story; Neil is here to offer laughs. Unfortunately the novelty of seeing squeaky clean Doogie Howser in this manner has been long lost. That’s the problem with this series. A joke just keeps running. Take for instance the young child who repeatedly digests drugs, albeit by accident, throughout the film. The more it happens, the poorer the taste.
Despite every effort to attack religion, there’s some worthwhile lessons crammed into A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. Harold and Kumar are forced confront loyalty, responsibility, aging, and manning up. It’s also worth noting that this is the only mainstream, non-white comedy series that doesn’t rely on race. Granted, there’s plenty of gross-out and narcotics humor, but the race card spends most of the film in the deck.
Every comedy should be funny, and A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas does not quite get there. Sure there are plenty of jokes, well executed 3D madness, even clay animation, but the end result is merely a better outing than the last. **
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