Review of "Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle," DVD

Review of

Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, DVD


Four out of five stars

The right blend of stupid when that is what you need

 There is no pretense of intelligence by the creators of this movie. Harold (John Cho) is a white collar worker in finance that is so low on the corporate ladder that he feels the need to do extra work in order to get along. He is also very shy with girls, becoming completely tongue-tied when he is alone in an elevator with a girl he is attracted to. Kumar (Kal Penn) is a genius fully capable of handling medical school yet seems to have no ambition to do anything more than smoke marijuana and annoy the people around him.

 After consuming their last joint, they develop an overpowering craving for White Castle hamburgers. Unfortunately, this requires a lengthy journey, so an unusual road trip is on and the tale has begun. There are the seemingly obligatory moronic other guys their age, a spooky guy right out of the horror genre, cops that couldn’t whip a light bulb in a spelling bee and bare female breasts. While none of that is original, some of their methods of transportation are. Their encounter with the spooky guy is more than a little gross yet has some originality that fits with how this movie plays out.

 Sometimes what we need most is mindless entertainment to tone us down from the stress of our lives. In those situations, this movie can be medicinal.