Buy it 2/7/12 on Blu-ray Combo Pack with UltraViolet Digital Copy and Download to Own.
To be perfectly honest, I have not been a fan of the Harold and Kumar series and I went into “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas” expecting it to be two tons of Holly Jolly crap. But, like a surprisingly little nugget of love found wrapped beneath the tree, this third install works, finding a nice balance between madcap and crude humor. ”A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas” is easily the best of the bunch.
The doped up duo’s first trip to White Castle was way too juvenile, relying heavily on pot jokes and nudity. While a sweaty, rolling-on-ecstasy, Neil Patrick Harris was a lone bright spot of the original, the remainder of the film was a mess aimed exclusively at the college set who never got a good Cheech and Chong film to call their own.
The sequel, “Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,” was somehow worse. I have tried to watch the film on three separate occasions and I’ve never made it all the way through. While a ‘shroomed out Neil Patrick Harris was a lone bright spot, the remainder of the film was unwatchable.
“A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas” starts out much like its dumbed down predecessors as Kumar (Kal Penn) buys weed from Patton Oswalt dressed as a shopping mall Santa and the two zip off “funny” names for Christmas pot such as “It’s a Weederful Life” and “Rudolph the Red-Eyed Reindeer”. Eye-rolling entertainment. You see, Kumar spends way too much time getting stoned these days and now looks like a disheveled homeless man with a couple extra pounds added and a burly glued-on beard. When news that his ex-girlfriend is pregnant with his progeny Kumar must decide whether to continue his loser days with waffles and weed or do the unthinkable: Grow up.
Harold (John Cho) has already made the leap to adulthood. He is now married, a corporate executive with a gorgeous home that is reminiscent of the Griswold abode from “Christmas Vacation”. Harold has visiting in-laws that he is trying to win over, especially his father-in-law affectionately known as Mr. Perez (Danny Trejo). Mr. Perez loves Christmas and Harold, along with estranged bud Kumar, spends the film trying to get the perfect Christmas tree. That is really the crux of the plot but does it really matter.
The adventure to get this prized tree is crazy and incredibly random involving plenty of pot smoke, a Russian mobster and his virginal daughter, a stop-motion animation interlude, a stoned and coked up toddler (a bit that borders on going too far but produces the film’s best line: “Your coke baby has superpowers”), the Real Santa and glorious musical featuring our favorite featured guest star, Neil Patrick Harris. This time NPH reveals that his homosexuality is a ruse to bag the babes and his drug of choice is Crack.
“A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas” works because it fully embraces and satirizes the both Christmas films and the current fade of 3D films. Homage is paid to many of the great Christmas classics while plenty of objects (eggs, broken glass, clay penises et al.) are hurled at you. This is strange of course when you are watching it at home WITHOUT the 3D and an element is lost but this is a problem with all movies conceived in three dimensions and then viewed at home sans the proper set up.
Will the film be a classic, destined for a 24 hour marathon showing every year on TBS? Probably not. But I wouldn’t be surprised if you drop it your Blu-ray player once a year to get in the mood for the holiday.
The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack features a couple of featurettes (one featuring the hilarious Tom Lennon who plays the father of the Coke Baby) and some deleted scenes that were deleted for a reason.
Also, the package features a single disc that works as a Blu-ray on one side and a DVD on other!!! Very nifty.