REVIEWED - HAROLD AND KUMAR GET THE MUNCHIES: Aside from certain stuff which is not actually supposed to be funny - war and pestilence spring to mind - there is, arguably, nothing less amusing than the comedy of recreational drug use, writes Donald Clarke
"Are you cool enough to get this reference to the occasionally overwhelming attractions of a Wibbly Wobbly Wonder?" such entertainments ask their confused target audience. Sadly, there are always enough students around willing to congratulate themselves on being capable of answering in the affirmative.
With this in mind, it comes as a surprise to be able to announce that the ominously titled Harold and Kumar Get the Munchies - known in America, home of a particular fast-food chain, as Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle - proves to be an absolute hoot throughout.
It is difficult to discern precisely why Danny Leiner's film, in which two stoned chums (John Cho and Kal Penn) roam New Jersey in search of protein, is so much less irritating than its predecessors in the genre. But both the writers and the two leads should be congratulated for assembling characters who, despite their almost perpetual state of bewilderment, exhibit personalities which, if not exactly complex, seem positively Chekovian in comparison to the heroes of the same director's Dude, Where's My Car? And there is something quite commendable about basing such a film around two fellows, one of Indian and one of Southeast-Asian descent, who struggle to appear hip even in a dorm full of economics students.
But the picture is mostly to be recommended for its fine jokes. The recurring appearances of Neil Patrick Harris - TV's Doogie Howser - are consistently hysterical ("Hey, NPH!"), and some of the gags focussing on preconceptions about Asian-Americans actually border on the subtle.
Best of all, however, is a fantasy sequence in which one of the boys dreams of falling in love with a bag of grass and invites us to watch as the relationship moves from initial infatuation through a difficult marriage before deteriorating into bickering and domestic violence. It's, like, soooooo funny.
