Review: Raunchy humor masks biting satire

Of all the grim and somber films over the past year skewering America's mismanagement of the "War on Terror" - each of which has run aground at the box office - who'd have thought that an absurdist stoner comedy would be the one to get it right?

Significantly more politically charged than the original, this completely over-the-top and shockingly un-P.C. sequel to "Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle" levels its sights on radical Muslim terrorists, Homeland Security xenophobes, inbred Southerners and, of course, President Bush.

And just as in the first film, "Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay" hits you between the eyes with very real and serious moral outrage while you're distracted, doubled over in laughter.

When we last saw Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn), they had just traveled the length and breadth of New Jersey to satisfy a cannabis-induced case of the munchies. This new film picks up almost the instant the last film left off (if you haven't seen the original, you will be lost, though no less amused).

Harold's new girlfriend, Maria, is on her way to Amsterdam, and the twosome decides that the only logical course of action is to follow her. Something tells me they may have had ulterior motives.

But their plans go awry when Kumar is caught onboard their flight with his trusty pot. It's amazing how much "bong" sounds like "bomb." Suspected of being terrorists ("North Korea and al-Qaida working together!"), the pair are tossed into Guantanamo Bay. Of course, they don't stay there long. After all, the title of the film implies that our high-flying heroes will escape from their incarceration and make their way back across America while being subjected to all forms of humiliating and degrading behavior, desperately searching for the one man who can clear their names.

This sequel pokes fun at our prejudices, nuking any semblance of political correctness in an effort to manipulate, subvert and demolish stereotypes. The filmmakers know stoner humor will take them only so far. As any drama student will tell you, one of the main functions of comedy and satire is to openly and contemptuously tackle social issues.

Don't be fooled into believing that this sex-drugs-and-rock-'n'-roll comedy doesn't have serious sociological teeth. With satire masquerading as potty humor and righteous rage as frat-house lunacy, "Harold & Kumar" roasts America's post-9/11 paranoia, authoritarian excesses, racial profiling and tolerance of extraordinary rendition and torture. When a government official literally wipes his backside with the Bill of Rights, you know you're watching a film that doesn't care a whit for subtlety.

Penn, who took time off from comedy to flex his dramatic muscles ("The Namesake," TV's "24") returns here to what he knows best. Cho, who's playing Hikaru Sulu on next summer's "Star Trek" reboot, makes even the act of cursing side-splittingly funny.

You'll be happy to know that the cult of Neil Patrick Harris (of which I am a proud member) is alive and well. Harris returns for a self-deprecating, encore, cameo meta-performance, playing himself as a drug-consuming sexaholic who exploits his "Doogie Howser M.D." fame.

"Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay" is even raunchier than the first film. How it secured a tame R-rating (all is relative) is beyond me. Incorporating pervasive scatological humor, absurd amounts of nudity and enough profanity to make Larry Flynt blush, "Harold & Kumar" represents Hollywood's latest effort to push the envelope of social acceptability.

"Harold & Kumar" also knows how to push all our buttons, but it rewards our discomfort with laughs. Just don't be surprised if you leave the theater as troubled as you are entertained.

details
Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay

Cast: John Cho, Kal Penn, Neil Patrick Harris, Danneel Harris
Directors: Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg
Playing at: Chapel Hills, Cinemark, Tinseltown
Rated: R (abundance of graphic nudity, profanity and drug use)
Running time: 1 hour, 42 minutes

Grade: B +