Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Starring: John Cho, Kal Penn, Neil Patrick Harris
Directed by: Jon Hurwitz (debut) and Hayden Schlossberg (debut)
Written by: Jon Hurwitz (“Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle”) and Hayden Schlossberg (“Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle”)

Literally starting off right where the first one leaves off (the boys are actually still dirty from their journey to White Castle), best friends Harold Lee (John Cho) and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn) return as the weed-loving duo in “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.”

While it’s still not necessarily clear why the first one became a “cult classic” in the bloodshot eyes of stoner’s everywhere (maybe because “Half-Baked” just isn’t as funny the 43rd time you watch it), the following was strong enough to somehow merit a sequel. This time Harold and Kumar are on their way to Amsterdam so Harold can profess his love to Maria (Paula Garcés), the girl he kisses in the elevator in Part 1 for those of you who are too stoned to keep up.

Of course, the boys don’t make it anywhere close to Europe. They’re thrown into the prison in Guantanamo Bay when air marshals identify them as terrorists after another passenger mishears the word “bong” for “bomb.”

And so the story moves along just as the first one did, this time with a lot more nudity and racial stereotypes disguised as jokes and a lot less Neil Patrick Harris. It doesn’t make much of a difference how much Doogie Howser is absent anyway. There are plenty of moronic characters to waste your time and set up for an inevitable trilogy.