As far as "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay" goes, the movie would have been far better if it aimed for nothing more than the mood set by the opening sequence: Louis Armstrong softly croons "What a Wonderful World" while Harold Lee (played by John Cho) daydreams in the shower, only to be interrupted by the extreme flatulence of Kumar Patel's (Kal Penn) gastrointestinal system, the revolting result of downing too many burgers.
This scene is funny, vaguely disgusting and exactly what was expected from this film. Unfortunately, the movie's complicated plotline quickly takes us far away from the simple humor of these scenes. The movie seems to pick up some point close to where "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" (2004) left off, with our two heroes, Harold and Kumar preparing for a trip to Amsterdam. While on the plane, Kumar decides to light up a newly-designed, smoke-free bong and, despite some witty banter (Kumar: "This is just a bong!" Passengers: "BOMB!"), is unable to convince the air marshals that it is not a terrorist device but simply drug paraphernalia. Thus, he and Harold are quickly shipped off to Guantanamo Bay. Naturally.
From there, our heroes somehow quickly escape back to U.S. soil (Was their cell door never locked?) where adventures abound as they try to get to Texas on the off chance that an old quasi-friend can help them clear their names.
Of course, along the way we are treated to scenes of the incompetence of the Department of Homeland Security, which, as part of its search for our two "terrorists," presents so many racial and ethnic stereotypes that it seems that the filmmakers were concerned about offending any single minority group and, as a solution, decided to offend as many groups as possible.
Our heroes, thankfully, are equipped with an internal GPS directing them to their friends; hence, we meet friend Raza (Amir Talai) hosting a "bottom-less" party somewhere in Florida and pick up Neil Patrick Harris for some of the funniest scenes in the movie.
Although there is the occasionally amusing tidbit (Kumar's first joint was pink and smoked in a library while writing a poem about the square root of three), the movie's attempts at social criticism don't work with its gag humor. Instead, the result seems to be some sort of mysterious conglomerate of a romantic comedy and a stoned road trip, with fun poked at a random assortment of people (the KKK, incestuous southerners, President Bush). The result is not great.
"Guantanamo Bay" is simply one long, weed-filled adventure full of plot holes and crude humor. It relies solely on the shock factor, making for few genuinely touching moments throughout the rest of the movie. However, most of the jokes are nothing we haven't seen in one of the "American Pie" movies, so there aren't many surprises. It's good for a few laughs between friends at the outrageous moments, but probably not worth spending ten dollars to see in theatres.
Next time boys, stick to the munchies. And when Neil Patrick Harris offers you 'shrooms, take them. It would make for a much better movie.
