This mediocre sequel to the genuinely funny Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, Harold Lee (John Cho) and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn) are planning to go to Amsterdam so that Harold can surprise a girl named Maria (Paula Graces) who he has a serious crush on. The pair cruises through airport security with Kumar narrowly escaping a search and successfully smuggling some weed on board. When he pulls out a smokeless bong and lights up, a paranoid old woman sees him and thinks he's a terrorist. The pair are brought down by a trio of overzealous air marshals and thrown into the Guantanamo Bay prison.

No sooner do they arrive, however, then they make their escape and manage to hitch a ride across the ocean with some Cuban refugees to Miami where they meet up with their friend, Raza Syed (Amir Talai) who is in the middle of hosting a 'bottomless' party (which is exactly what it sounds like). After the party, Raza lends the pair a car and some clothes so that they can drive to Texas where they hope that Colton Graham (Eric Winter), the politically minded fiancé of Kumar's ex-girlfriend Vanessa (Danneel Harris), will be able to help them. Unfortunately for them, the insane Agent Ron Fox of the Department Of Homeland Security is doing his best to bring these two 'terrorists' to justice before they can strike again, completely oblivious to the fact that Harold and Kumar are really nothing more than a pair of slacker/stoner/frat boys. Before it's all over they'll get some help from President George W. Bush (James Adomian), Neil Patrick Harris (as himself), a strange redneck and his sibling bride, and a gang of good natured whores (lead by Beverly D'Angelo) and they'll travel half way across the country.

Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay definitely has its share of laugh out loud moments but they don't come as quickly or as regularly as they did in the duo's first big screen adventure and there are a few spots in the film that drag resulting in some obvious pacing problems. That said, if you dug Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle then you'll appreciate the crass and juvenile sense of humor on display in this sequel even if it is about as low brow as you can get. You know what kind of movie you're getting into when the first scene finds Kumar interrupting Harold in the shower by taking 'the best dump ever' and detailing his bowel movements for Harold (and for us) in a fair bit of detail before commenting on Harold's wang. Yup. It's that kind of film and it's not going to appeal to everyone, particularly the prurient.

The guest appearance from Neil Patrick Harris, in a very self aware role playing Neil Patrick Harris, is one of the film's highlights. It lets Harris show us that although he's happy to acknowledge and maybe even exploit his past as TV's Doogie Howser, M.D. he has grown up... or at least reached adulthood. Harris plays his part with a completely straight face and he does so quite well and anyone who knows him only from that decades old television role will likely get a kick out of his part here. It's fun to see Beverly D'Angelo show up in a bit part as well, though she's rather underused here in an appearance that is only a scant few minutes long. Of course, John Cho and Kal Penn are their usual likeable selves, turning in enjoyable performances as the two leads as the somewhat repressed would be accountant and his slacker/stoner med-school pal.

Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay takes some ballsy political risks by tackling what many Americans consider sensitive issues in considering today's current political climate. The potential to offend is huge with this picture and the writer/director team of Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg exploit that potential quite effectively by taking jabs at the current administration and at the president himself. That said, cahones don't always mean laughs or good storytelling and the pacing issues and haphazard nature of the script take their toll on the picture. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay is certainly worth a look for fans of the kind of crass humor the first film established, but it's far from a modern classic, rather, it's a mildly amusing blip and little more.

Video:

New Line's 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is decent even if it is a little soft in some spots. You won't notice any problems with print damage though a couple of scenes are a bit grainer than you might expect for such a recent film. Aside from that, the image shapes up nicely. Skin tones and color reproduction look nice and accurate while black levels stay strong and deep. There aren't any problems with mpeg compression artifacts and there's only a slight hint of edge enhancement visible in a couple of scenes.