Making a Harold and Kumar Christmas film is a really stupid idea. The good thing is, the creators are aware of that. “A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas” doesn’t take itself seriously at all ― which is half the fun.
Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) have grown apart in the years since their last adventure in 2008. Harold is a successful businessman who has settled down with his wife Maria (Paula Garces). His days of partying and pot-smoking are behind him, and he has replaced his friend Kumar with a lame work buddy named Todd (Tom Lennon).
Meanwhile, Kumar hasn’t changed at all. He still lives in the same crappy apartment, and spends most of his time getting high and watching TV. His new roommate is a slacker college student named Adrian (Amir Blumenfeld). When his ex-girlfriend comes to visit and tells him that she’s pregnant, he has to re-evaluate his lifestyle.
The two friends are brought together again when a mysterious Christmas package for Harold shows up on Kumar’s doorstep. This leads to a series of misadventures involving a beloved Christmas tree owned by Maria’s intense father (Danny Trejo), a virgin named Mary and a waffle-making robot toy named Wafflebot.
The first “Harold and Kumar” movie was successful because it involved a pair of stoners going on an insane journey while trying to accomplish the simple task of getting White Castle burgers to satisfy their munchies. The 2008 sequel “Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” was not as successful because the premise was so ridiculous to begin with. The Harold and Kumar franchise works better when the two characters are going to great lengths to accomplish a simple task, which is why this third film in the series works. The duo needs to make it to a party to steal a Christmas tree, and that’s the entire plot of the film.
A constant gag in the film, and one of the main reasons to see it in theaters, is the 3D. This film is a send-up of the current 3D fad, and it uses the medium to fling every possible body part and bodily fluid out of the screen at the audience. Not one scene goes by without at least one thing flying at the audience, which ends up being a lot of fun. In a serious film, 3D can often be distracting and obnoxious, but when it is done specifically to be obnoxious, it is surprisingly funny.
Neil Patrick Harris returns, playing a hilariously dark version of himself. Since the last movie, the actor has come out as a gay man, which makes for some very funny gags. Now that NPH has become such a popular figure in television and movies, it is fun to see him return to the “Harold and Kumar” series, playing a character very different than his public persona.
It is refreshing to see the “Harold and Kumar” series still going after all these years. Raunchy R-rated comedies come out all the time, but it is not often that there are two Asian-American actors and an openly-gay man on the poster. A few jokes are made about the characters’ race, but it is not the entire point of the movie. The “Harold and Kumar” movies prove that not every movie series has to have white protagonists, which is something that the movie industry needs to learn.
“A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas” is offensive and incredibly vulgar. However, at times it manages to be a surprisingly heartfelt Christmas film about friendship and growing older. The fact that a 3D stoner holiday comedy isn’t completely terrible is this year’s first Christmas miracle.
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