Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)

Director:

Danny Leiner

Writers (WGA):

Jon Hurwitz (written by) &
Hayden Schlossberg (written by)

Release Date:

30 July 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy

Tagline:

Fast Food. High Times.

Plot:

Harold Lee and Kumar Patel are two stoners who end up getting the munchies. What they crave the most after seeing a TV advertisement...

Plot Keywords:

White Castle | Police | Stoner | Raccoon | Police Officer

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

John Cho	...	Harold Lee
Ethan Embry	...	Billy Carver
Robert Tinkler	...	J.D.
Fred Willard	...	Dr. Willoughby
Kal Penn	...	Kumar Patel
Steve Braun	...	Cole
Dan Bochart	...	Extreme Sports Punk #1
Paula Garcés	...	Maria (as Paula Garcès)
Mike Sheer	...	'I'm So High' Kid
Christopher Thompson	...	'Don't You Wanna Be Cool' Kid
David Krumholtz	...	Goldstein
Eddie Kaye Thomas	...	Rosenberg
Angelo Tsarouchas	...	Mean Tollbooth Guy (as Angelo Tsachouras)
Anthony Anderson	...	Burger Shack Employee
Siu Ta	...	Cindy Kim

Also Known As:

Harold & Kumar Get the Munchies (Europe: English title) (UK)
Harold et Kumar chassent le burger (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong language, sexual content, drug use and some crude humor.

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA | Canada | Germany

Language:

English | Hindi

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate no. 40416) | USA:Unrated (DVD) | New Zealand:R16 | Iceland:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:18 | Canada:18A (Alberta) | Canada:18A (Manitoba) | Norway:15 | South Africa:16 | Norway:11 (DVD rating) | Australia:MA | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:18A (British Columbia) | Czech Republic:15 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Singapore:M18 | UK:15 | Argentina:13 | Spain:13 | Italy:T | Ireland:18 | Hong Kong:IIB | France:U

Filming Locations:

Caledon, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Endgame Entertainment

Trivia:

Kal Penn, who plays Kumar, is a vegetarian, so technicians made veggie Castles for him.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The slider special (as shown on the TV commercial at the beginning) is $2.99 for 6 burgers, fries and a drink. If they ordered 5 specials each, their bill should be just under $30 before tax, and yet they are charged almost $50. However, in the finale they order separate items (30 burgers, 5 fries, and 4 drinks each). Unless the server converted that order into specials (8 specials, plus 10 burgers and 2 fries), they would not get the cheaper price.

Quotes:

[first lines]
J.D.: Billy boy! Get your ass ready. It's almost 5:00 and this bad boy needs to get his drink on. No, no, no. Give me that.
Billy Carver: Don't.
J.D.: I'm gonna burn it once and for all.
Billy Carver: Stop it.

Movie Connections:

References "The Simpsons" (1989)

Soundtrack:

Crazy on You

If stoner comedy has a place in the satire canon, this is one of the best.

If two chicks sitting in stalls playing 'Battleshits' while the two Indian and Asian 'heroes' hide between them suffering the sounds and smells of scatological low humor sounds funny to you, then you should consider seeing 'Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.' My last stoner movie, the remake of 'Starsky and Hutch,' was indeed Sunday school by contrast.

Director Danny Leiner ('Dude, Where's My Car?') has taken this genre and made a classic, not just because it exploits every possible ethnic stereotype with zeal equaled only by 'Bad Santa's' decimating the Christmas formula. 'Castle' has such fun imitating the roguish good will of the Hope/Crosby road pictures while commenting on the egregious weaknesses of parents and police that almost anyone who doesn't mind a breast or two bared in the name of satire can laugh heartily at modern adult pretensions and youthful indiscretion.

Harold and Kumar are trying to find an all-night White Castle after experiencing the sudden yearning that afflicts almost anyone who has had a 'slider' burger. Like that little square of fat and calories, the pot and girls are just too good not to indulge now and then. The two early twenties students, one a serious stock analyst and the other a lazy pre-med genius, are like Hope and Crosby in their witty repartee and canny ability to escape harm. Being delivered from the wrath of seriously deformed 'Freak Show' and his siren wife doesn't deter them from considering the affections of the battling babes or idolizing Neil Patrick Harris in a cameo playing himself as a lethal womanizer.

More serious is the multicultural subtext about stereotyping (Asians are nerdy number crunchers and Indians are overachieving medical doctors, for instance) overturned by, for instance, morphing a seemingly 'Joy Luck' club gathering into a raunchy party or exposing a gang of mouthy skinheads as 'girliemen.' It's all pop-cult fun at our own expense, something akin to actually enjoying the articles in 'Playboy' even if they weren't our reason for buying the mags.

My grandson Cody and I bonded once again, this time just laughing at the silliness, enjoying the satire, and figuring how we could get his dad to allow his young brother to see it, despite the lurid spots that give spice and lend naughtiness to our increasingly dangerous lives.

If stoner comedy has a place in the satire canon, this is one of the best.