The quest for munchies in 'White Castle'

By Rene Rodriguez
Knight Ridder Newspapers

HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE Rated R Cast: Kal Penn, John Cho, Paula Garces, Neil Patrick Harris, David Krumholtz, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Christopher Meloni, Ryan Reynolds. Director: Danny Leiner. Producers: Greg Shapiro, Nathan Kahane. Screenwriters: Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg. A New Line Cinema release. Running time: 87 minutes. Vulgar language, sexual situations, drug use, adult themes.

Their quest, which stretches on through the long night and takes on Homeric proportions by the time the end credits roll, will require Harold and Kumar to overcome all sorts of daunting obstacles, including, but not limited to, a deformed tow truck driver named Freakshow, a rabid raccoon, racist cops and a horny Doogie Howser. There is also a dream sequence in which Kumar fantasizes about marrying a large bag of marijuana, making love to it, and slapping it around when it fails to fix his coffee properly.

Clearly, this unabashedly silly movie, written by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, is the work of people with a grasp of the stream-of-consciousness creativity that a few bong hits can impart. Accordingly, the plentiful gags are all of the hit-and-miss variety. Those with a low tolerance for toilet humor, or scenes in which characters exclaim "Dude, I'm so high right now!" have been warned.

What makes "Harold & Kumar" the most subversive comedy of the year, however, has nothing to do with Cheech and Chong antics. In a sly, almost whimsical fashion, director Danny Leiner ("Dude, Where's My Car?") deflates ethnic stereotypes by making his two Asian-American leads (played by Kal Penn and John Cho) smarter and better adjusted than everyone else around them. They are an immensely likable duo, regardless of whether you share their cannabis obsession, and it is not an accident that all of their antagonists — be it their patronizing co-workers, a gang of thuggish surfers, or even Neil Patrick Harris, playing himself — happen to be lily-white.

Like last year's "Better Luck Tomorrow" (which is affectionately teased here), "Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle" satirizes racial prejudice with a laid-back glee. Even its title, which at first sounds like the mother of all product placements, eventually takes on added significance. In their formidable quest for junk food, Harold and Kumar end up redefining what the all-American protagonists of Hollywood movies should look like — and prove this comedy is not quite as brain-dead as it originally appeared.