After being estranged for two years, Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) reunite in order to replace Harold’s father-in-law’s prize Christmas tree. 

CRITIQUE

It’s better than the second one. I’m sure you were wondering about that, so I thought we’d go ahead and get it out of the way. Whenever or wherever this movie comes up, you’ll likely here some variation on that statement, just as “it’s not as good as the first one” invariably works its way into the conversation whenever Escape from Guantanamo Bay comes up.

If you think “it’s better than the second one” is really just a polite way of saying this one doesn’t completely blow, you’re sort of correct. A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas is funnier than its immediate predecessor (which was so bad I started to wonder if I’d been wrong about the first movie), but it’s nowhere near as funny as the first movie in this series (which I enjoyed more than I ever thought I would and still find very funny).

Like the first two movies, this one is really just an excuse for crude, rude humor and weed jokes. What passes for plot here is dumb and cartoonish, and so thin it might as well not even exist. But that’s okay, as the quality of the jokes and gags is what counts. Some of them are great, some of them fall flat, and some of them are obvious. Some are all three.

You undoubtedly caught sight of that stoned baby in the movie’s trailers and TV spots, and you were undoubtedly able to divine where that was headed; aside from one bit so extreme I couldn’t believe even the people responsible for these flicks would go there (which is why it got a laugh from me), it plays out exactly as you’d expect. And there’s the obligatory climactic declaration of resolve from Harold, which is either laziness on the part of screenwriters Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg (the team behind all three scripts) or a joke so slyly meta it just seems lazy.

Hurwitz and Schlossberg were originally set to direct, but they got the call to take over the American Pie franchise and had to bow out. TV and music video vet Todd Strauss-Schulson ended up calling the shots, and he keeps things moving, which is about all you can hope for. (Hurwitz and Schlossberg directed the second movie, and I can’t imagine how anyone could view the results and offer them another directing gig.) Take away the end credits and the movie clocks in at 81 minutes; those minutes fly by, even during the bits that don’t work or seem like padding.

Can you tell that I’m struggling to find something to say? You probably already know whether or not you want to see this movie, and anything I say probably won’t sway you in the opposite direction. If you found things to laugh at in the first two movies, you’ll undoubtedly find things to laugh at here. Cho and Penn are still a good team, and they still know how to sell even the most ridiculous ideas (which here includes a robot that makes waffles and bonds with its owner to a frightening degree). Danny Trejo has a couple funny moments as Harold’s father-in-law; a flashback to his youth contains one of the best sight gags of the past ten years.

A sequence at a tree lot somehow manages to take an ancient joke and make it seem fresh. Kumar’s idea of safe sex is classic. Hell, the movie even manages to make Tyler Perry funny, and I never thought I’d see that. And then there’s Neil Patrick Harris, who comes in just when the movie needs him most and takes over. He was the first movie’s biggest surprise, the only funny thing about the second flick, and here he helps push this movie to the point where it becomes just funny enough to maybe make it worth sitting through.  

The movie was designed for 3-D viewings (it was filmed in 3-D, not converted in post), so the filmmakers take every opportunity they can to thrust or zoom something right into the camera. Eggs fly at you, a punch rips a tooth from someone’s mouth and sends it sailing toward you, and a geyser of Trejo’s semen slowly blasts out of the frame. Some of this is made funny by the lengths the movie goes to in order to work it all in, while some of it is just dumb. It works pretty well in 2-D, and I don’t see how seeing any of it in 3-D would make it funnier (but I say that as someone who finds 3-D pointless), but that option is out there.

This Blu-ray offers up both the theatrical cut and an unrated version. The unrated version runs roughly six minutes longer, and longer is all it is. There’s absolutely nothing special about the new material, no good jokes, no outrageous scatology, no gratuitous nudity. Scenes run a little longer, shots are held a little longer, and there’s a bit more dialogue--that’s all. I can’t imagine even the movie’s most ardent fans will get anything out of it.

THE VIDEO

The movie is presented in its original 2.40:1 aspect ratio; the 1080p transfers have been encoded with AVC and are housed on a 50GB disc, with each version of the movie getting its own 25GB layer. The image here can look slightly plastic and artificial, betraying its digital origins. Black levels can be uneven, crushing at times and looking more gray than black at others. At the same time, though, there are moments when the image looks fantastic; daytime exteriors and brightly lit interiors generally look smooth and film-like, with excellent detail and depth.

Some colors are oversaturated to the point of absurdity, but that appears to be both intentional and a by-product of the filming processes. The brief Claymation sequence that appears about midway through (I’ll take the filmmakers at their word when they say the sequence was planned long before the Christmas episode of Community’s second season aired) looks flat-out great.

Just so you’ll know, the extended cut is presented in 2-D on the 3-D Blu-ray. Seems like kind of a gyp, huh?

THE AUDIO

The theatrical version boasts a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, while the extended cut gets only a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 track. I’ve no idea why this is the case, but there it is. (They’re really treating the longer cut like a redheaded stepchild, huh?) The mix here tends to get front-heavy whenever the characters are just standing around talking, while the spurts of action call attention to themselves with their cartoonishly over-the-top nature. Dialogue sounds good enough, and there’s some (relatively) impressive low-end action. (All of this also applies to the lossy track on the extended cut, albeit to a lesser degree.)

French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 dubs are also included; English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles are available.

THE EXTRAS

The extras here are sparse, but if it’s any consolation, they are presented in high-def.

Through the Haze with Tom Lennon (9 minutes) is a series of six brief interview segments/featurettes with the actor (who portrays Harold’s new best friend in the movie). They’re little more than excuses for Lennon to goof around. 

Bringing Harold & Kumar Claymation to Life (4 minutes) is a too-brief look at the creation of the Claymation sequence.

Some short deleted scenes (4 minutes) close things out. A couple are ho-hum, but one set in a Chinese restaurant is pretty funny.

The flipside of this dual-format disc is a DVD version of the theatrical cut. A code to access an UltraViolet digital copy of the theatrical cut is also included.

FINAL THOUGHTS