Harold & Kumar do SXSW!
Last night Austin, Texas prepared itself for the World Premiere of the highly anticipated movie- Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. You literally could not walk the halls or even have a Texas-sized cocktail without hearing about Harold & Kumar’s next adventure, as festival goers planned their night around the premiere.
Perhaps it was the popularity of the first, or folks wanting racy humor – but the show opened to a sold-out crowd. And of course, Jaman was there along with stars John Cho, Kal Penn and the infamous Neil Patrick Harris for the premiere and Q&A with cast members. The movie, which can best be described as an American Road trip through the backwoods of the South played up racial stereotypes, questioned political and social views and carefully balanced drug use and sex (yes, together). The duo tested friendship, found love and ended up in some very sticky situations with bags of narcotics as they traveled from Amsterdam to Cuba to Miami to Texas and back to Amsterdam. There were some scenes, that even this blogger wouldn’t consider spoiling for the viewer. The appeal- every college kid and 35 yr old gamer will plan their evening around the April 25th theatrical release and more so, purchase the un-rated DVD, which promised longer, uncut scenes (questioning how much more exposed can the film actually get).
The burning question on my mind, should we consider a genre for “stoner movies”? Whatever they did film writers John Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg had the right chemistry to pull off what is sure to be another hit.
March 9th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
By ’sure to be a hit’ I assume you mean box office success? I have to admit to not catching the first Harold and Kumar while it was in the theater, eventually plopping in the DVD one night to see what the buzz was all about. And while I enjoyed the first movie, wild horses couldn’t have brought me into the theater last night. In fact that was me NOT jumping in line with you to head into the movie - early buzz alert kept me far away.
And yes, given the insatiable curiosity of everyone last night I’m sure its going to be a huge ‘hit’ among the right crowds.
March 10th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Is it me or does John Cho look like Edison Chen? I missed the first Harold and Kumar movies as well, but the subject matter seems to hit the right twenty to thirty something marks. I suspect someone will be raking in the dough!