Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
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Template:Infobox Movie Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (published in some countries under the title Harold and Kumar get the Munchies) is a 2004 stoner film that explores stereotypes, especially racial, in American culture. The plot revolves around the two title characters, who decide to go to the fast food restaurant White Castle after smoking a large amount of pot. The main characters are Harold Lee, played by John Cho, and Kumar Patel, played by Kal Penn.
The film was written by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, and directed by Danny Leiner. It also has appearances by Paula Garcés, Anthony Anderson, Ethan Embry, Jamie Kennedy, Christopher Meloni, Ryan Reynolds, Shaun Majumder, David Krumholtz, Eddie Kaye Thomas, and Neil Patrick Harris (as himself).
The White Castle featured in the movie is a fictional franchise in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Cherry Hill was chosen because it enabled the movie producers to shoot the film over a more substantial and varied landscape.
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Plot
It is a Friday night. Best friends Harold Lee and Kumar Patel watch TV while deciding what to do for dinner that night. They end up seeing a commercial for White Castle, a restaurant they had not been to for a while, and decide to go there for dinner. Unfortunately, it will not be an easy ride.
On their way to New Brunswick, where they think there is a White Castle, they get stuck at a broken toll plaza with cars honking and a mean fat driver yelling curses at them. After going through and having to escape the highway, they see a group of gangsters getting into a fight.
Once in New Brunswick, they realize the White Castle there had turned into a Burger Shack. They pull in to realize that the burgers there just "don't cut it" compared to White Castle. They find out about one in Cherry Hill, 45 minutes away and agree to make the trip.
They first stop in Princeton to visit their friend Cindy, where they are trapped by a game of "Battleshits" and also take possession of a bag of marijuana.
Along the way, they get a raccoon in the car and eventually get lost and end up in a spin out on a wet road, landing in a ditch. They call for a tow truck, and they are both taken to his compound with his wife. There they have sexual interactions and unique activities with the girl until their car is fixed and they take off.
Soon after, they find a hitchhiker who happens to be Neil Patrick Harris from Doogie Howser, M.D. Trusting them, they pick him up and soon need to pull into a gas station to find their way back to the highway. After asking for directions, the Extreme Sports punks distract the two by kayaking through the convenience store and soon land in a confrontation with Kumar. The two leave and are eager to get out and hit the road again, only for their car to be stolen by the hitchhiker after stupidly leaving the keys unattended.
Harold sees a payphone across a street with a red crosswalk sign. They try to get it to go Green but Kumar urges them to cross anyway considering it is late in the night and there is no traffic around. Unfortunately, they could not have picked a worse time to cross, as a police unit catches them out of nowhere. They soon get fined $220 after getting into a vicious conversation with an unhelpful officer that does not believe what Neil Patrick Harris had done. Harold soon goes mad and hits the police officer, thus landing them in jail.
Once in jail, they find a way to escape once the guards are not present by making up a story about a shooting, and discover a cheetah right outside. They get on the cheetah hoping to arrive at "White Castle in no time!" only for Harold to fall off and land him in a dream about his girlfriend's love for him. After getting woken up by Kumar, they realize that they had been led in the wrong direction and plan to get a cab to return home.
But Harold does not insist on giving up, despite yet another confrontation with the skateboarding punks. This time a ball is thrown at Harold's forehead and he complains about them never leaving them alone. This soon provokes them to do the ultimate move: steal the punks' truck and drive away, leaving them behind. This occurs without their warning and the two once again feel confident.
Just after they arrived in Cherry Hill however, an officer who was looking for those punks realizes them and gives chase. This leads to them going onto a trail to lose the officer and then getting stuck on the edge of a cliff. Realizing there's nothing else to do, they miraculously find a hang glider, and use it to their advantage to glide down to the White Castle restaurant.
But after arriving there, they flip out upon realizing they have no money. Luckily, Neil Patrick Harris shows up, says how sorry he is for what happened, gives them money and their car back. They have the best meal of their lives and return to civilization. There Harold makes out with Maria and they soon plan to go to Amsterdam to go after her.
Racial stereotyping
Unlike other films in the teen comedy/stoner genre (see Dude, Where's My Car? and Dazed and Confused), Harold and Kumar also heavily deals with the issues of racial discrimination and stereotyping, particularly amongst Asian males in modern day America. The movie was praised by many for featuring two Asian-American actors in the lead roles without stereotypical accents or nerdy qualities.
Harold is an extremely intelligent Korean investment banker whose current job impresses even the Korean population at Princeton University. He is constantly faced with the stereotype of the intelligent and nerdy Asian guy, but at the same time, fears being called a Twinkie by his Korean friends. It's explained that a Twinkie is, like the snack food, yellow on the outside, white on the inside.
Kumar is of Indian heritage, who like his friend Harold is extremely intelligent, especially within the field of medicine. Unfortunately, Kumar also has the fear of becoming a living stereotype and, despite having incredible MCAT scores, refuses to attend medical school offering the explanation "Just because you're hung like a moose, doesn't mean you have to do porn."
To juxtapose the serious-yet-subtle undertones dealing with racial tolerance, we also have Harold and Kumar's Jewish equivalents and across-the-hall friends, Rosenburg and Goldstein who couldn't be prouder of their heritage. Rosenburg wears a yarmulke, they smoke pot from a shofar and even speak like old Jewish men, despite being in their early 20's.
It's also interesting to note that all the villains (the med school dean, the Extreme dudes, the guys at the office, all the police officers and campus security guards, the "business hippy" and even Neil Patrick Harris) in the movie (except for possibly Kumar's father) are white, and all "allies" (Maria, Rosenburg, Goldstein, the guy at the Burger Shack, the convenience store clerk, Cindy Kim and company, the guy in prison with Harold and Freakshow) are non-white or, in Freakshow's case, fanatically religious and covered in heinous boils.
See also
External links
- Official Site (http://www.haroldandkumar.com/)
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