Harold And Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay Opening

[Young Vadlapatla]

Originallyconsidered a direct-to-video release, Hurwitz and Schlossberg signed on for the film by January 2007, with Cho, Penn, and Harris returning soon after. Principal photography also began that month and concluded in March 2007, with filming locations including Shreveport and Amsterdam. Prior to release, the film faced backlash for its comedic portrayal of Guantanamo Bay, with Amnesty International mounting a campaign to highlight the testimonies of abuse and torture made by the camp's detainees.

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay was theatrically released in the U.S. on April 25, 2008, by Warner Bros., the first New Line Cinema title released after the studio's transition by Warner Bros. The film received mixed critical reception, with praise for the performances of Cho, Penn, and Harris, although some found it inferior to its predecessor. Conversely, the film was better received by audiences, and has gained a cult following. It was also a commercial success, grossing over $43 million worldwide. The sequel, A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, was released internationally in November 2011.

After returning home from White Castle, Harold Lee and Kumar Patel decide to travel to Amsterdam, Netherlands so Harold can surprise his neighbor and love interest Maria as well as smoke Cannabis. At the airport, the duo encounters Kumar's ex-girlfriend Vanessa Fanning, who is engaged to Colton Graham, a college friend of Harold's whose family has political connections. While on the flight, passengers mistake Kumar's new invention, a smokeless bong, for a bomb and sky marshals apprehend the duo. Ron Fox, a neurotic and extremely racist Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, believes the duo are agents of a joint Al-Qaeda and North Korean conspiracy and sends them to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba against the advice of NSA Deputy Director Dr. John Beecher. After narrowly avoiding sexual assault by a guard at the detention camp due to the accidental assistance of two other prisoners, Harold and Kumar escape and board a Cuban refugee boat to Miami, Florida. They meet up with their college friend, Raza, at his home, who loans them a car so they can travel to Texas, hoping Colton can help clear their names.

Harold and Kumar endure several misadventures on their way to Texas, first crashing their car into an African-American neighborhood in Birmingham, Alabama (in which the neighborhood offers to help), staying at the home of an incestuous sibling couple and their inbred son, then afterward escaping a Ku Klux Klan rally. Meanwhile, Fox tries to find them through several racist interrogation techniques. As Harold and Kumar hitchhike through a forest, they are picked up by Neil Patrick Harris, who manages to get them through a checkpoint set up by Fox, but then takes them to a brothel, where the mistress then shoots Harris for branding one of the prostitutes. When Harold and Kumar reach Texas, Colton agrees to help exonerate the duo. However, upon seeing Kumar reconnect with Vanessa, Colton instead delivers Harold and Kumar to Fox.

On the flight back to prison, Harold and Kumar manage to subdue Fox's men with a can of mace belonging to Harris and their fists, but Fox holds them at gunpoint, until an enraged Beecher intervenes, telling Fox that it's because of people like him that the rest of the world thinks Americans are racist and stupid. Beecher promises to get Harold and Kumar cleared, but trips and accidentally opens the cabin door, sucking out him, Harold, and Kumar. Harold manages to grab a parachute and he pulls it open for him and Kumar just as Fox falls by to his death, having jumped after them (without a parachute) to finish them off. Harold and Kumar land through the roof of a luxurious ranch, which turns out to be President George W. Bush's estate. After befriending and smoking kush with Harold and Kumar, the duo explains their misadventures and Bush gives them both a presidential pardon, and also gets the Secret Service to escort the pair to Vanessa and Colton's wedding. They expose Colton's betrayal to Vanessa and the guests, and Colton attempts to attack them, but Harold knocks him out. Kumar consoles a furious Vanessa by reciting a poem he wrote for her in college, and they reconcile. Harold, Kumar and Vanessa then travel to Amsterdam where Harold finds Maria, and the couples happily tour the city together while getting high on cannabis. A post-credits scene shows Harris coming to after being presumed dead outside the brothel.

Filming began in the third week of January 2007 in Shreveport, Louisiana.[3][4] Filming concluded in March 2007, after which Kal Penn was able to start guest teaching some courses at University of Pennsylvania for their Spring 2008 semester.[5]

In October 2007, a "coming soon" poster featuring Neil Patrick Harris began circulating on the Internet.[7] Showing Harris astride a unicorn, the advertisement poses the question "What would NPH do?"[8]

Variety declared it "Animal House meets Dr. Strangelove" and called it "one of the ballsiest comedies to come out of Hollywood in a long time."[12] The Guardian (which rated the movie 7 out of 10) noted that despite having a "total nonsense" story, its screening was "one of the most raucous screenings I've ever attended. Even the opening credits were wildly applauded, and much of the dialog was inaudible over the laughter."[13]

Conversely, Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times lamented that although he enjoyed the "pot-fueled laughs and the sheer energetic lunacy of the original, I was really let down by this uninspired sequel."[14]Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News said that "the movie forgets to stay true to their characters or to itself."[15]Michael Phillips, also of the Chicago Tribune, wrote that you "find yourself smiling at some of the bits, wincing through many, many others, and ultimately wondering if the pacing would've improved had either H or K developed a terrible cocaine habit."[16]Amnesty International USA commented by saying that "Guantanamo is no joke." They have encouraged their membership to hand out fliers at movie theater screenings to promote awareness about the treatment of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.[17]

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc July 29, 2008 featuring a single-disc theatrical edition, an unrated edition, or a 2-disc unrated edition.[21] The unrated edition was featured for Blu-ray disc. The 2-disc version features a "dude change the movie" feature which lets the viewer access alternate scenes and an alternate ending including "Harold & Kumar Go to Amsterdam".

Kal Penn and John Cho returned in their title roles in A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. Danneel Harris reprised her role of Vanessa and Paula Garces returned as Maria. Neil Patrick Harris also returned for a cameo in this sequel.[22][23] Eddie Kaye Thomas and Bobby Lee also reprised their roles from the previous films. A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas was released on November 4, 2011.[24]

3a8082e126