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"A Very Harold & Kumar
3D Christmas"
Action
and Adventure. Rated R. 1 hour, 30 minutes.
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Photo
by New Line Cinema
Kal
Penn and John Cho in New Line Cinema's A Very Harold
& Kumar 3D Christmas - 2011
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I really enjoyed this
movie a lot. It reminded me of the original Home Alone
movie only if Kevin was a lot older. John Cho reprises his role
as Harold and Kal Penn returns as Kumar. Patton Oswalt stars as
the Mall Santa and Neil Patrick Harris plays himself in a supporting
role. It has been three years since Harold and Kumar have been
in a movie together and this is their third film overall.
I think one of the
reasons why I like this movie is that it was shot almost entirely
in metro Detroit. There are scenes of the skyline in New York
City, but most of the filming that took place on the ground was
in Michigan. I remember when the production took place in the
middle of the summer and fake snow had to be brought in. Christmas
wreaths lined Congress street in downtown Detroit in July 2010.
The opening scene features
Kumar on Santa’s lap. That took place inside the Somerset
Collection mall in Troy, Mich. The very next scene is Kumar looking
inside the trunk of his car and I think that was filmed in the
mall’s parking structure. Next thing we know, a package
is dropped on the doorstep of Kumar’s apartment. It was
addressed to Harold, but he moved out six years ago. Later, we
find out it was Santa’s way of connecting the two once again.
Harold has grown up
and now has a professional job, which requires him to wear a business
suit. He owns a nice two-story home with his wife. Meanwhile,
Kumar has not grown up. He still acts like a kid – doing
drugs and smoking.
Kumar has a buddy of
his drive him to Harold’s new house to drop off the package.
Harold opens the door and invites Kumar inside. He notices the
real Christmas tree near the picture window. Harold said there
is no smoking in my new house. Kumar throws his cigar out the
window, but it magically comes inside another window and the tree
catches on fire. They tried to stop the fire, but it doesn’t
work so both of them threw the Christmas tree out the window.
That sets up the premise of the movie, where both of them are
searching for a new Christmas tree to replace the one that burned.
Harold got upset and
said he would take care of it himself and told Kumar to leave.
Harold went driving around with his friend while Kumar went searching
for a tree with his buddy. Harold and Kumar end up meeting again
at a tree farm.
Do they end up eating
at a White Castle like in their 2004 film? The answer is yes!
They stopped at one in midtown Detroit because I could clearly
see the Woodward Ave. sign in the window. White Castle is actually
promoting the movie on their website. They are running a contest
to ask fans for their best Harold & Kumar moment
for a chance to win a $5,000 New York Film Academy scholarship.
There are a lot of
twists and turns in the movie. Just when you think they are about
to finally get a Christmas tree, something always happens to set
them back.
Harold and Kumar got
thrown into a Broadway holiday musical similar to the Rockettes.
They dressed up as toy soldiers for that scene. Neil Patrick Harris
was lead singer of the musical. Harold and Kumar thought that
Harris could help them get a Christmas tree, but that didn’t
work. You'll have to see the movie to find out if they ever get
a Christmas tree.
The movie introduced
a new holiday toy called the Wafflebot. It is a mechanical robot
that makes waffles and puts syrup on them so you don’t get
burned. I remember seeing it in the storefront windows on Congress
St. where the movie was filmed in downtown Detroit. It is a very
clever invention.
This is the first of
the three Harold & Kumar films to be released in
3D. That means you will need to wear those plastic eyeglasses
so things will jump out at you. You can also expect to pay more
money to see the movie. AMC charged an additional $3 or $4 per
ticket to see the film.
I really loved this
movie. I hope everyone will go see it, especially people from
Michigan just to see downtown Detroit in the background. I never
saw the first two Harold & Kumar movies, but this
one makes me want to rent the DVD so I can.
OVERALL RATING:
A
Movie
poster credit: New Line Cinema
A
Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas movie poster
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