Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
Tags: bleak, cult, humor, satire, flashback

Plot synopsis:
Following the events of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Harold Lee and Kumar Patel purchase plane tickets to Amsterdam so Harold can pursue a romance with neighbor Maria. Before boarding their plane, they encounter a friend from college named Colton, and Kumar's ex-girlfriend, Vanessa, who are getting married in Texas. During the flight, a woman suspects Kumar is a terrorist after mistaking his bong for a bomb. Sky marshals detain them and the plane diverts to Washington D.C. Ron Fox, an obsessive and racist Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, sends them to Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba, thinking they are agents of a joint Al-Qaeda and North Korean conspiracy, against the advice of NSA Vice-Chairman John Beecher. With the inadvertent assistance of two other prisoners, Harold and Kumar escape and board a Cuban refugee boat to Miami, Florida. They meet with their college friend, Raza, who loans them a car so they can travel to Texas to get help from Colton, whose family has political connections.
During the car ride, Kumar remembers meeting Vanessa at the library and smoking a joint for the first time. Fox interrogates Harold and Kumar's parents utilizing an incompetent interpreter, despite their English fluency. Harold and Kumar crash their car in Birmingham, Alabama. They flee on foot after mistaking an approaching group of helpful African-Americans for gang members. They meet a friendly hunter and stay with him and his wife at their well-kept trailer home. When someone knocks at the door, Harold and Kumar hide in the basement and discover the couple's inbred cycloptic son. At night, while Kumar dreams of a threesome with Vanessa and a large bag of marijuana, Harold is shocked to find the son in his bed, and they promptly leave. In the woods, Harold and Kumar encounter a Ku Klux Klan rally. They hide until some members arrive with a beer keg. After knocking them out, and putting on their robes, they mingle until the other two return, declaring them to be "Mexicans". The Klansmen chase Harold and Kumar until their leader accidentally sets himself on fire. The two run into Neil Patrick Harris, who offers them a ride.
Fox interrogates the African-Americans Harold and Kumar encountered in Birmingham, as well as Harold and Kumar's Jewish friends, Rosenberg and Goldstein. Under the influence of psychedelic mushrooms, Harris smuggles Harold and Kumar past Fox's security checkpoint. They stop at a brothel, but while Harris leaves with a big-breasted prostitute, Harold and Kumar talk about their friendship issues with their girls. Harris causes a situation by branding his woman. As they flee, Harris is shot in the back. While grieving, Harold and Kumar look through Harris' possessions, finding Chris Fehn's mask, a jar of human hair, and a dozen mace cans. Harold and Kumar arrive in Texas, where Colton promises to help them out of their situation, but when he sees Kumar reconnecting with Vanessa, he turns them over to Fox. On a flight to Guantanamo Bay, Kumar apologizes to Harold for getting them into this situation and they forgive each other.
Harold uses Harris' mace to incapacitate two guards, but Fox catches them. As he prepares to shoot them, an infuriated Beecher knocks down Fox and calls him out on his incompetence. He tries to tie Fox up but slips and knocks the plane door open, falling to his death. Everyone is sucked out the plane, and Kumar hangs on to Harold, who deploys a parachute. Fox tries to shoot them, but falls to his death, and they crash through the roof of President George W. Bush's Texas house. Bush brings them to his recreation room, and they bond by smoking weed. Bush promises to pardon Harold and Kumar and to help them with whatever they need. Escorted by the Secret Service, Harold and Kumar interrupt Colton and Vanessa's wedding. Colton confronts Kumar, but Harold punches him, and Kumar reconnects with Vanessa by reciting a poem he was writing when they first met. The three head to Amsterdam where Harold reunites with Maria, and they tour Amsterdam.
In a post-credits scene, Harris is shown to have survived the gunshot.

Review: As a fan of Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, I really didn't think they could recapture the magic of the first film in the sequel.
I thought Neil Patrick Harris shined in this movie, along with the guys who play Harold and Kumar.
In a world gone crazy where reality TV humiliates and tears every shred of decency from human beings both the people taking part and the mindless minions who watch countless hours of reality drivel (funny that these are the people who find films like Harold and Kumar rude, crude and offencive)and countless romantic comedies and boring Diaz and Sandler un-comedic vehicles comes the throwback that is Harold and Kumar well acted well written with every cliché and grossness you can think of and then some thrown in for good measure no group is spared the relentless assault made me smile from start to end, watching Neil Patrick Harris as a foul mouthed stoner and the constant stereotyping of everyone from rednecks to terrorists was priceless lets hope Harold and Kumar still have some more adventures to come, and by the way I'm in my 40's my girlfriends in her 20's and my mothers 64 and we all loved it..
One has to wonder then why the best that the writer/director partnership can come up with is a muddle of insultingly predictable, unoriginal set-pieces and gags, presumably aimed at an audience which can barely tie its collective shoe laces let alone conceive of an original thought.Anyone familiar with the first 'Harold & Kumar go to White Castle' film should expect much the same this time; very much the same in fact, but without any originality, creative humour, spontaneity, sensitivity, inventiveness, (the list goes on).While the first outing addressed significant issues with a refreshing lack of pretension, this sequel fails miserably from the outset and just goes downhill fast from there.Definitely aimed at the sub-100 IQ audience.IF YOU CAN READ THIS YOU ARE TOO SMART FOR THIS FILM..
I'm a 19 year old guy from Montreal: I laugh at stupid nudity jokes, south park episodes and I am a huge fan of the first H&K movie so hear this, Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo bay is at best a 2 dollar download from Itunes or a 1 dollar rental from your nearest store..
Let me count the ways: a sequel to a pretty funny movie that makes you wonder whether blindfolded monkeys typing on keyboards could have produced a better screenplay...the reduction of two funny characters into unpleasant unredeemable wastes of celluloid...pre-adolescent sexual humor that wouldn't be funny to Bart Simpson...a stoner movie that a stoner would think was made as a DEA warning film filled with attempts at visual and verbal jokes that only a team of GS 14s with twenty years in writing memos could produce...I could go on.The worst movie of the year.
the characters are a great couple of friends that do stuff that are funny and you get a great feeling of appreciation of them.As Soon as me and my friends watched the first one, we waited like 2 years or so for the sequel to come out because we thought H&K was such a great movie that the sequel HAD to be good.
As soon as we found out, it was out, we watched it and it started quite good but after like 15 minutes the story just got quite weird and the jokes were terrible, but because we taught "This movie HAS to be good, come on it's Harold & Kumar" but the further we got in the movie we found out that it makes absolutely no sense at all...
Though sequels usually have a hard time measuring up to the first movie, I was expecting at least a few laughs from 'Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay'.
"Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" is enjoyable on so many different levels, mainly because of the complete and utter lack of thought behind it; that being said, the filmmakers managed to distract me from the fact that everything that was happening was absurd by the simple act of comedic timing.I was neither surprised nor shocked to find out that a sequel was in the works and had little doubt that it would probably be a terrible film.
Not only because it is so hard to recapture an almost nostalgic feeling from a preceding film, yet also because it is so hard to try again the second time."Escape from Guantanamo Bay" seemed like and hour and half of trying way too hard to be funny.
What was so great about the first film, at least to me, was that the filmmakers knew they weren't making an Oscar worthy flick, nor a film that would be widely accepted: they were making a movie that they found funny, pot jokes and toilet humor included.And while the sequel included all of these immature things, it also came with a sense of being forced, all these cliché jokes which have been overused so many times by countless up-and-coming comedians that anyone could see them coming a mile away.I will give credit where it is due, however.
Those scenes were so very different than I was expecting that the comedy that happened in them seemed liked gold, even if what was happening was the same stuff I have seen in countless other films.I usually try to leave the brain at the door when I am seeing these kind of movies...and that usually works.
But it was almost too hard to even do that as I watched "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay." Even the thoughtless stoner comedy had me going..."Um, this is stupid." I'm not saying it's not funny...nor am I saying it isn't enjoyable.
But if the sparse first-weekend turnout in my theater is any indication, then this may be the death knell of the outrageous, pop-culture obsessed gross-out "comedy." Now before you point out my elitism and lack of humor, I will say that I watched "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" prior to this sequel, and enjoyed it quite a bitthe movie had a flawed yet endearing imbalance between sending up racial and cultural stereotypes, misogynist behavior, and stoner humor, all while leaving us enthralled by the quest of Harold Lee (John Cho) and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn), two wildly different roommates who embark on an often-hilarious misadventure to the titular location.
That would go a long way in explaining why certain scenes (including a much-appreciatedbut also much less funnyappearance by Neil Patrick Harris) are repeated almost verbatim from the original."White Castle" had its share of incisive satire amid the vulgarity, using the quest for some munchies as a framing device, but "Guantanamo" feels aimless and meandering for most of its run timethe conflicts between our two main characters feel inauthentic, their encounters stale (including a run-in with the KKK and an inbred cyclops-child), and the sense of satire completely ineptnowhere is this more pronounced than in the character of Ron Fox (Rob Corddry), a Department of Homeland Security operative whose over-the-top character is one of the most vile, grotesque, and unfunny ever to appear in a motion picture; the writing and Corddry's own overblown performance is a blatant indicator of how off-the-mark John Hurwitz' and Hayden Schlossberg's direction really is.Based on "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay," I doubt we'll be seeing a third installment in the series...but at least we'll always have "White Castle.".
So I decided to kill time by bringing my friend to the movie theater and watch Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. Was it worth it?
Harold And Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay was the funniest movie I have ever seen in my whole entire life.
The return of one movie that changed the minds of the world comedic geniuses, this movie was a great sequel in all aspect, lets start with Kal Penns character, what a great way to add to career, after Namesake and White Castle, this movie easily was amongst his best performances, hes still one of the best comedic people alive, every scene with harold was hilarious, the scene during the plane and getting on was amazing, truly enjoyed the scene with them going on, and lets get to Harolds character, he felt a lot more loose for this movie, his character was more loosely based, and he had a lot of dramatic scenes in this movie then the first one that he did.
this sequel to the first Harold and Kumar has some funny moments,but i didn't think it was anywhere near as funny as the first.the good news is that the laughs are full belly laughs,that will leave you crying.the bad news:there aren't very many of them.however,i did find that the story was better and more fleshed out.Rob Corddry is hysterical in his scenes.well most of them anyway.one thing i didn't care for is that there's a scenes which shifts the tone away fro the comedy.i found this inexplicable and also unnecessary.this movie is at least as offensive as the first one,probably more so.if the first one offended you,you'll want to avoid this one.for me,Harold and Kumar 2 is a 6/10.
I thought some of the content involving Neil Patrick Harris was hilarious (although I also thought that whole thing went on far too long) and the Alabama family they stayed with was a hoot.The story - lame though it is - revolves around Harold and Kumar (John Cho and Kal Penn) being mistaken for terrorists on board a jet bound for Amsterdam and sent off to Guantanamo Bay, from where they escape and proceed to a series of adventures, pursued by an over the top Homeland Security agent played by Rob Corddry.
Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay is a good movie with a decent but predictable storyline that was clearly only set up for the comedy aspect,but a great comedic cast.I certainly did not enjoy it as much as the first Harold and Kumar,it just wasn't as funny and the jokes and the story wern't as original,and a lot of it was very cheesy and cliché,something that was gladly absent from the first.John Cho and Kal Penn did a great job,they both play off each other really well,and Neil Patrick Harris is great playing himself as usual.What I disliked the most was the title because they aren't in Guantanamo Bay for most of the movie.Fans of the original should still check it out,but you will be disappointed.Harold and Kumar land in Guantanamo Bay after getting caught with marijuana on a plane to Amsterdam..
The first Harold & Kumar movie was better, although this is a good film as well.
There's a scene with Neil Patrick Harris at a police check point and Harold and Kumar's parents being questioned by the authorities, but overall the silliness that made White Castle great (such as a guy peeing beside you in the middle of an open forest), is somehow lost after our duo escape a cockmeat sandwich.If you enjoy the first movie, by all means Guantanamo Bay is perfect for you, but I feel that the whole purpose of adding Vanessa to the storyline is to give both our buds a happy ending for everyone once they reach Amsterdam.
While H&K Go to White Castle wasn't the prize taker for best pot comedy of the decade (Pineapple Express takes that title), it was about as cool, witty deranged, and crazy a post Cheech and Chong romp as one could ask for, especially considering the director did Dude Where's my Car. The trailer for the sequel basically gave away the premise right away: Harold and Kumar, on a plane going to Amsterdam, are thrown off for being suspected terrorists, with Rob Cordrey's government agent saying in true one-dimensional tone, "Al-Quaeda and North Korea working together!" The trailer was perfect on a first viewing...
The filmmakers- the first film's writers- pick up the story right where the last left off, following the love/hate friendship of Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn), who this time have a similar climactic blow to Clerks 2, and up until then are anxious nice guy and slacker horn-dog respectively who each have their own romantic flames somewhere out of reach.
A good example of this is the ignorant assumption that an Asian man on an airplane is a terrorist, again very funny, but if you've seen the trailer you've already seen one of the best gags.Overall, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay wonderfully reworks the original film but on a larger scale, it is a comedy that is definitely above average as the jokes are well paced and mostly well written.
Two highly educated stoners, one a Korean American, the other an Indian American accidentally end up in Guantanamo Bay due to a misunderstanding on an air plane trip to Amsterdam.I really liked the first Harold & Kumar film; it was silly albeit vulgar comedy done right, carried by some great performances and surreal scenes.
The film does feature some comedy that make you laugh out of control though some of the characters could have been without the film is only for fans of these two I give Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay an 7 out of 10.
With the sequel now being screened, I am so there already.Beginning directly where the first movie had left off, Harold Lee (John Cho) and Kumar Patel (Karl Penn) are now en route to Amsterdam, weed capital of the world, where they can indulge in their favourite drug and be high all the time.
I remember way back in 2004 getting pretty stoked for Harold and Kumar go to The White Castle (as eloquently put by the great Fred Willard) because this was something I certainly could relate to after a great night of partyin' like a rock star.However, after watching the movie with such high expectations I honestly came out a little unsatisfied.
Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay is the second in what could be a great new stoner movie series like Cheech & Chong during the 70's and 80's.The first one was a very funny stoner film, I enjoyed it greatly.The second one blew me away as well!
The trailers looked hilarious and the movie was hilarious as well.The plot involves the two stoners going to amsterdam to meet up with Harold's girlfriend from the first movie.In the airport they see Kumar's ex who is about to be married.On the plane, Kumar tries to smoke up in the bathroom using a weird looking bong, an old lady confuses it for a bomb and shouts "TERRORIST".The two get sent to Guantanamo Bay, escape and go on a series of wild misadventures trying to clear their names.This is a funny and great stoner film and I recommend it..
Wow what a letdown.I loved the first movie with these two lovable stoners.And I was set to laugh my booty off to this movie.But it never happened,in fact,I don't think I had one real good laugh the whole movie.In this adventure the boys set out to go to Amsterdam ,supposedly to find Harold's girlfriend, but of course it was as much about getting to the weed and porn capital of the world as it was about finding Harold's girlfriend.Of course a trip is never an easy thing with these two and Kumar just can't wait to smoke some weed so he gets out his bong on the plane, which is mistaken for a bomb ,and all heck breaks loose.This movie had a weak plot and a terrible script....no good laughs at all was to be had the whole way through this thing.I kept waiting for it to get better but it just never did.It seemed the writers had no clear concept of a plot,they just strung a bunch of unfunny feces and oral sex jokes together and hoped it made a movie.It didn't.Even Neil Partick Harris,who was superb in the first one,just appeared to be going through the motions in this one.The guy playing George Bush didn't even really look like Bush but by the time he appears you don't really care.I don't remember any boobies in this thing but honestly I watched it a few weeks ago and I'm writing this review about half loaded so there could have been some.After the first movie I was hoping this would be another good series of stoner movies,ala Cheech and Chong,but this one was so bad it's probably killed any hopes of a third one,at least that I'll bother to watch.I'd recommend re-watching the first one and skipping this one all together so you'll have a fond remembrance of these two guys.How this thing is getting a 7 out of 10 by the reviewers at this website I'll never know.I gave it a 4 and that was being generous because I like the first one so much..
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo BayStarring: John Cho, Kal Penn, Rob Corddry, Neil Patrick Harris, David Krumholtz, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Paula GracesGenre: ComedyRated: ROur favorite stoner dynamic duo return in another hilarious adventure.
The only thing that they did like in the first movie was all the quirky situations that Harold & Kumar run into while on the adventure and of course the return of the womanizing (yet fictionalized) Neil Patrick Harris.
Definitely not as funny as the first, it took the easy route with a lot of the jokes and pretty much sunk itself trying to outdo Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.
After disliking the first Harold and Kumar film, I wasn't sure if should even bother watching Escape from Guantanamo Bay. However, I slightly liked this one better.
It had way funnier jokes way more actors also very funny people and much higher production values which is great because a couple of the scenes from the first one were almost hard to look at.This movie is about Harold and Kumar who decide to go to Amsterdam.