Harold and Kumar 3 does everything right that Harold and Kumar 2 did wrong. I guess the filmmakers had painted themselves into a corner with the end of the first movie, only to move completely away from it during the second. I did have to admire that someone was doing comedy about Guantanamo Bay. But whereas HK2 unraveled, HK3 sticks to what amounts to a pretty standard plot of friendship and reconciliation.
Harold and Kumar, no longer buddies, each have their own lives. Harold is living the good life with his hot wife, while trying to impress his father-in-law, while Kumar continues his stoner/slacker lifestyle. When a mysterious package arrives, the duo are brought back together. Besides John Cho, Kal Penn and Neil Patrick Harris, the cast is beefed up with the appearance of Thomas Lennon as the nerdy dad-friend of Harold, Danny Trejo as the father-in-law and Amir Blumenfeld from Collegehumor as Kumar’s idiot friend. And Bobby Lee has a funny bit in the beginning.
Probably my favorite bit is the explanation of why NPH is gay, followed closely by the explanation of why he’s still alive.
It doesn’t capture the magic of one, but it holds together a lot better than 2. It feels like the franchise could go one more, dare I say. Why not? It is, what it is; a movie that’s funny and doesn’t take itself too seriously. If you’re looking for something to go see and be really, really high while watching it, I give it a 10 out of 10 keggers. If you’re sober, I give it a 7 out of 10.
