{"id":981,"date":"2008-08-24T19:03:36","date_gmt":"2008-08-24T23:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=981"},"modified":"2022-10-24T08:30:38","modified_gmt":"2022-10-24T12:30:38","slug":"harold-kumar-escape-from-guantanamo-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/harold-kumar-escape-from-guantanamo-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"H&K drop LSD with NPH in Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On the way to a hoped-for idyll in their spiritual home Amsterdam, our two beloved stoners Harold and Kumar take unintended detours through Cuba (as collateral damage in the War on Terror), Florida (where they drop trou’ for a “bottomless” party), Alabama (rudely interrupting a Klu Klux Klan klatsch), and Texas (whereupon they pass the Mary Jane with the worst George W. Bush impersonator ever).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kal
Harold and Kumar are the best of buds. Get it? “Buds”? Oh, never mind…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) are the 21st Century’s answer to Cheech and Chong, and their first film was a rather enjoyable, freewheeling affair that reveled in its absurdist plot twists and even aided in making Neil Patrick Harris a star again, deservedly. But this sequel unfortunately wastes too much time pairing Harold and Kumar off with their difficult-to-distinguish brunette love interests. It’s as if, like Talladega Nights<\/em><\/a>, it wants to toy with heterosexual “gay panic” humor, but chickens out; the implication is that Harold and Kumar are actually more in love with each other than anybody else, even weed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the way to a hoped-for idyll in their spiritual home Amsterdam, our two beloved stoners Harold and Kumar take unintended detours through Cuba (as collateral damage in the War on Terror), Florida (where they drop trou’ for a “bottomless” party), Alabama (rudely interrupting a Klu Klux Klan klatsch), and Texas (whereupon they pass the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,2],"tags":[1516,77,157,158,159,115,160],"class_list":["post-981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1-star","category-movies","tag-1516","tag-comedy","tag-john-cho","tag-kal-penn","tag-neil-patrick-harris","tag-new-line-cinema","tag-stoner"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/harold-kumar-escape-feature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-fP","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3505,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/romero-crazies\/","url_meta":{"origin":981,"position":0},"title":"People Are Vectors: George A. Romero’s The Crazies","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"George A. Romero practically invented the lucrative zombie subgenre with Night of the Living Dead in 1968, simultaneously trapping himself within it for most of his subsequent career. Romero's zombies served him well enough for six films and counting, at least two of which transcended the genre and are still\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "1 Star"","block_context":{"text":"1 Star","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/1-star\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/crazies.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/crazies.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/crazies.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/crazies.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/crazies.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":751,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/into-the-wild\/","url_meta":{"origin":981,"position":1},"title":"Sean Penn and Emile Hirsch go Into the Wild","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"April 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Like many young men cursed with a privileged life of education and time to think for themselves, Chris McCandless (Emile Hirsch) wanted only a vaguely defined \"truth\" and to not have to rely on anyone. Synthesizing his reading of Henry Thoreau and Jack London, he imagined for himself a life\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Into the Wild","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/into-the-wild-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/into-the-wild-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/into-the-wild-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/into-the-wild-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/into-the-wild-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3617,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/tree-of-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":981,"position":2},"title":"Sad Dinosaurs: Calling Bullshit on Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"April 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"As a public service, I will now summarize all 2 hours and 19 minutes of Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life for you: My mommy was pretty, my daddy was mean, sometimes kids die, I inhaled too much DDT, and it makes me so sad. Sad like the lonely birth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Tree of Life","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/the-tree-of-life.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/the-tree-of-life.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/the-tree-of-life.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/the-tree-of-life.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/the-tree-of-life.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1812,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/milk\/","url_meta":{"origin":981,"position":3},"title":"Sean Penn as Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant’s Milk","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"June 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Any friend of this blog will know that I almost universally hate biopics. As I've complained in my reviews of Control, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and even Walk Hard, I believe that the feature film is fundamentally ill suited for biography. One seemingly minor lesson from college that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sean Penn in Milk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/milk-sean-penn-featured.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/milk-sean-penn-featured.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/milk-sean-penn-featured.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/milk-sean-penn-featured.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/milk-sean-penn-featured.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1992,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/dennis-hoppers-colors\/","url_meta":{"origin":981,"position":4},"title":"A Problem With the Whole World: Dennis Hopper’s Colors","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"March 6, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Dennis Hopper's Colors may be a buddy cop flick on the surface, but it's hardly typical high-concept Hollywood material. It does have a token overarching plot (involving a mismatched pair of cops tracing the perpetrators of a drive-by shooting), but it's merely a loose thread to hold the movie together.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Colors","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/colors-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/colors-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/colors-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/colors-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/colors-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5825,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/when-happens-when-you-tell-the-bush-administration-what-they-dont-want-to-hear-fair-game\/","url_meta":{"origin":981,"position":5},"title":"When happens when you tell the Bush Administration what they don’t want to hear: Fair Game","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"August 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Doug Liman's Fair Game is an important movie. The legacy of the Bush Administration's war on terror comprises many grand injustices: civilian casualties, torture, increased resentment worldwide, eroded civil liberties, et al. In other words, lots of raw material for screenplays. Most treatments of the war on terror in movies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Naomi Watts and Sean Penn in Fair Game","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/fair-game.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/fair-game.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/fair-game.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/fair-game.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/fair-game.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=981"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6875,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981\/revisions\/6875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}