Comedy sequels are a risky proposition.
Once studio executives smell a franchise, the new installments can get overblown and lose the charm of the original (Austin Powers) or fall back upon simply repeating the same jokes in each movie (Austin Powers again).
The prospect of a sequel to Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle raised a lot of the same concerns, even in title alone: Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. The switch from greasy burger joint to a detainee camp seemed to support the "more is more" approach to amping up a comedy, and the early trailer featuring a George W. Bush impersonator didn't dispel that idea.
Well, the scope is bigger, but rest easy: The integrity of this stoner road trip flick has been preserved.
Guantanamo Bay, in fact, picks up directly where the first film ended. The guys are getting ready to head to Amsterdam, but Kumar (Kal Penn) sneaks a bong onto the plane. The bong is mistaken for a bomb, the pair for terrorists, and soon they're breaking out of Guantanamo and seeking to clear their names.
This leads to great potential for political jokes, although the movie hints at stronger satire than it is willing to deliver. Granted, no one is going to Harold and Kumar for a political dialogue, but the movie tries to have it both ways.
The characters often start to slip into impassioned rants against government misconduct -- the Indian Kumar accuses airport security of searching him based on racial profiling, and asks a coke-using Bush how he can justify fighting a hypocritical war on drugs.
No sooner is a point raised, however, than a one-liner cuts it off. Issues are teased but never fleshed out, which means many great setups end in disappointment. Harold and Kumar might as well shrug their shoulders and say, "Hey, we're just a couple of lovable stoners, man. What do you expect?"
The political overtones are new to this sequel, however. Just like the original, the second movie supplies just the right mix of crude humor, silliness and likable characters during Harold and Kumar's surreal escapades.
Like White Castle, Guantanamo Bay is an episodic road movie. After escaping Cuba on a refugee raft (in an unfortunately brief scene full of missed potential), the two end up in Florida and have to trek to Texas to reach a friend with ties to the government who they hope can exonerate them.
In White Castle, Harold (John Cho) longed to talk to the cute girl in his apartment elevator. Now it's Kumar's turn for a romantic subplot, as the government friend in Texas happens to be marrying Kumar's ex-girlfriend and he wants her back.
This leads to one of the film's most rewarding gags for fans of the first installment, as the audience is treated to a flashback of Harold and Kumar's college days. It's reminiscent of the Beavis and Butt-Head joke in which those two were studious, articulate young men until the second they turned on MTV. Kumar's first encounter with a joint in the library stacks seems to have had a similar effect -- and Harold's old haircut is maybe the movie's biggest laugh.
The typical problems plaguing comedy sequels do pop up in small ways. Repeated jokes are an issue: Neil Patrick Harris' memorable role in the first movie, then a surprise, is now advertised on the posters. However, it helps that this movie directly follows the first, and can be seen as an extension of the same adventure.
Although Guantanamo Bay is not the surprise classic that the first was -- strangely, the duo is less compelling while fighting the government then they were fighting the munchies -- it's in the spirit of the original and an early comedy highlight of 2008.
Grade: B+
