Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageHarold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)
Director: Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg
Movie review
From Time Out New York
The paranoid side effect to the original’s buzz, Guantanamo Bay lacks the single-minded momentum of White Castle’s endless night, which it ditches in the name of ramping up the franchise’s social agenda: Gitmo, where our duo ends up after Kumar (Penn) attempts to light his “smokeless bong” in an airplane restroom, turns out to be only the first stop on a cross-country mission to debunk all stereotypes. We’ll learn that bulky African-Americans with crowbars may just be trying to fix a car, and that (literal) inbreeding hicks can own flat-screens too.
The point scoring can seem labored, at times even crude; the situations involving an overacting Rob Corddry—as the movie’s chief Homeland Security buffoon—cut too close to Kafkaesque reality to be funny. But by design, Guantanamo Bay gets by as much on chutzpah as laughs (less so, in both cases, when it makes an unexpectedly sympathetic case for America’s pothead in chief). And yes: Amid all the medicating, the writer-directors have included a bottomless party in Miami, the great Neil Patrick Harris wolfing down ’shrooms and a cameo by everyone’s favorite anthropomorphic stash, which gets frisky with Kumar and his girlfriend. Only authors of torture memos would fail to find humor in that.
Author: Ben Kenigsberg
Time Out New York Issue 657: May 1 - 7, 2008
User reviews of this film
-
- Breezy said...
- Posted on Nov 11 2011 13:02 No need to defend the film because all the reviews here are so good, but I've seen many people say it's not as good as the first when I think this is better. Very funny, laugh out loud stuff.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- rajesh said...
- Posted on Jun 18 2008 23:58 MUST WATCH FILM, so so so funny from intro to ending, i've not seen the first , and laughed my socks off all the way, it probably offends everyone in the world in the film but it is just so funny!!
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Jon Fisher said...
- Posted on Jun 15 2008 11:44 I think the T.O. reviewer and the nutter below took this film waaaay too seriously. For me it contained many belly laughs, and had the rare accolade that when we left literally everyone was still laughing, giggling and talking about it. Literally laugh a minute stuff. If you go to this movie looking for something politically "significant" that is making serious points about american imperialism, then you'll be dissapoinited. If you're looking for a right laugh then get down the cinema.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Crofty said...
- Posted on Jun 11 2008 15:15 relating to usman looks like someone has revised the whole flaming dictionary so after all that im guessing u didnt enjoy the film ay!! thought film was great but preferred the first one xx
- Report as inappropriate
-
- gary said...
- Posted on Jun 09 2008 09:04 i loved this film great
- Report as inappropriate
-
- broady said...
- Posted on Jun 06 2008 23:09 wat is the man below me on about.talk about over doing it all i have to say is great movie recomend it to all the family
- Report as inappropriate
-
- jr000 said...
- Posted on Jun 01 2008 14:46 to da weirdo below.... m8,, u chat sh1t, dyu wanna be ne more borin?!?
- Report as inappropriate
-
- usman khawaja said...
-
Posted on Jun 01 2008 13:56
whether this belated satire on the american foreign policy is of any significance is when you weigh it against the intelligence of the docu-drama osama ben laden,but the 2 are poles apart,this is dressed as a randy stag party with al-qaeda and bush thrown in, as male rape victims in a cuban prison and the american admin represented by a stoned president who in a rush of self analysis blames his father for the whole mess ,
there are some good moments like the republican-redneck stereotypes and the illiterate satire on the linguistic ignorance of a cia translator ,but it is mainly a bottomless romp like the silly party by REZA in miami and the even more moronic insertion of an inbred redneck family with the desperately bad take on ku klux klan KLAN,even the brothel episode with neal on magic mushrooms is bad ,
the republican stereotypes in the form of the cia inquisitor and the evil boyfriend who is son of a bush aide was very cliched ,
it was unable to even get within the boundaries of animal house much less white castle or gitmo bay,
the final pun about mr.bush asking the boys did they get the SANDWICH TREATMENT ,is both bizarre and surreal -as it admits to a heinous crime and yet that situation should be allowed to perpetuate itself some how seems preposterous ,
it seems rather innocuous fun with some patched in indifferntly boring sequences and a mandatory satire on the current milieu of redneck,republican-ism ,particularly when you see it from the confines of AN OBAMA ERA ,
USMAN KHAWAJA - Report as inappropriate
-
- brad said...
- Posted on Jun 01 2008 13:48 what age rate is harold and kumar
- Report as inappropriate
-
- sharks said...
- Posted on May 30 2008 19:31 I have seen the first one - Harold And Kumar get the munchies, and thought that was wicked and hilarious, going to watch this tonight with the lads, reckon its going to be just as gud if not better
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg
Cast: Kal Penn, John Cho, Neil Patrick Harris, Rob Corddry, Jack Conley, Roger Bart, Danneel Harris, Eric Winter, Paula Garcés, Missi Pyle, Beverly D'Angelo, David Krumholtz, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Ed Helms, Christopher Meloni full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 102 mins
US Release: Apr 25 2008
Top Stories
Ridley Scott interview
Director Ridley Scott tells Cath Clarke why he's making a science fiction comeback
Cannes Film Festival 2012: half-time report
Dave Calhoun reports on the hits, misses and a shocking new masterpiece from Michael Haneke
What do you think?
Post your review now