No mucking about - let's get straight to it.

REALLY RED-EYED REVIEW

Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay

A surprise hit and even bigger DVD cult success, 2004's Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle brought the stoner comedy genre back into the mainstream. The genre had pretty much laid dormant since the heyday of Cheech & Chong and, while attempts had been made (here's looking at you, Dude Where's My Car?) nothing seemed to connect with audiences. Working from a brilliantly simple premise - two stoned guys on a hunt for burgers - the film actually went quite far in terms of racial humour and dealing with cultural stereotypes through hidden subtexts.

Flash forward four years and the duo are back on another mission - heading to Amsterdam in order for Harold to meet up with the girl he managed to snag in their last outing. Kumar, however, sends their mission hurtling off-course when his "smokeless bong" is confused for a bomb and the boys are labelled as terrorist by their fellow passengers. Before long, they're whisked away to Guantanamo Bay and the true hilarity begins. If you liked the first film, odds are you're going to love this one, but if you thought the first film was dumb, well, maybe you should think twice before writing this one off.

You see, EFGB is much, much smarter than it's predecessor. The writers clued into the fact that most people enjoyed the racial humour of the first film more than the weed-based comedy and, while they don't abandon their style, the jokes are almost all coming from an Us v. Them mentality. Thankfully for the audience, the Us seems to be anyone with a functioning brain, or without ridiculously racist beliefs and attitudes. While nowhere near as good as Tropic Thunder, it plays with the audiences attitudes towards race and racism for humour in a similar way to Robert Downey Jr's performance in that film.

Also, the film stars Neil Patrick Harris... as himself... riding a unicorn while on mushrooms. That's a rad.

I'm not gonna lie, friends - this one was a particularly tough one to review. On what merits do you value a film? If you're interested in amazing cinematography, brilliant direction or staggeringly good acting, you won't find any of it here. However, if you're idea of a good movie is one that lets you check out from reality and has you laughing from start to end, often in spite of yourself, then you might just find yourself loving the heck out of Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay!

Dave's not here, man...

~T