So pissed I couldn’t find my original review of this flick from 2004 (pre-Weblog format) because I did spend the money at the terrible Cinemark outside my house. Hell, I cannot remember if I liked, hated or thought meh of this. All I do recall clearly was, back then I used to strive for a kick-ass headline which summed up the movie when Picayune followed a print model. H&KG2WC was one of the few times I nailed it.
Ready?
Tokin’ Minorities
My joke still holds up despite all the faux outrage and woke business going on because it’s accurate, not racist via my play on words.
Meanwhile, did the movie age well? The short version in my opinion…it does as an update to the only solid Cheech & Chong movie made, Up in Smoke, through the story’s outrageousness, vulgarity, stereotypes and improbability. Both require a suspension of disbelief to make it funny because neither are on par with their ancestor It Happened One Night, the primary source of the modern Buddy Comedy. Maybe Weird Science and Sixteen Candles (referenced in H&KG2WC ) but I would watch either of these before ever sitting through the worst of the genre, The Hangover.
Both are also very dated. Smoke is only understandable to those familiar with how the late Seventies were playing out which is a major reason why Cheech and Chong parted ways; Cheech Marin didn’t want to keep doing weed jokes for the rest of the Eighties. Plus Los Angeles has seriously morphed into a worse place. H&KG2WC shares the same dilemma in how American attitudes have changed about pot (it’s legal in many states and Canada) and there’s numerous remnants of Nineties trends littered throughout: early cell phones, extreme sports, anti-drug ads. Just like The Matrix, you will laugh at this being the pinnacle of human civilization as per Agent Smith. I can’t wait to see what the remake in the 2030s will be. Maybe a clone and a robot get stoned, travel to the moon to score junk food and return to earth in a ship made entirely of lunar-based cocaine only to be hijacked by Miley Cyrus III.
One very good thing which has happened (or evolved) over the 17 years since H&KG2WC debuted, attitudes toward Asian Americans have improved. America has a long damn way to go but progress is progress, trust me, Italians didn’t become “White” over a weekend. Apu on The Simpsons is no longer voiced by Hank Azaria, same for the Black characters, Dr. Hibbert is now the hilarious Kevin Michael Richardson. More people have come to realize they were hurting our fellow Americans’ feelings and devaluing them simultaneously. Much like in the movie, Harold and Kumar are first- (or further back) generation Americans who only know this country, are fond of America’s stuff and just want to have the same lives as the people already here have. I think the team producing H&KG2WC were indirectly pitching this point by making an Asian-Indian American and a Korean American the protagonists. That and jump-starting Neal Patrick Harris’ second act as a crazy, party guy before he let the world know he’s gay.
Would I watch it again? Not really. I was curious to see if H&KG2WC held up while showing Jennifer another cultural touchstone and I think my ears were burning over May being Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. I do want to see the sequels. Find out if they found new material beyond the lazy pot jokes.