Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (DVD, 2005, Unrated Version)

A sophomore slump is tough to come by when your freshman outing was nothing to write home about.
But for some people in the entertainment industry, a step backwards is needed to move forward.
Danny Leiner, director of the 2000 flop "Dude, Where’s My Car?," is one of those people. And imagine; all it took for Leiner to take that first step in the right direction were a pair of stoners and White Castle.
"Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" is the sort of movie with a premise that implies cliché happenings but throws a curveball by addressing a moderately serious issue.
Sure, there’s the typical lowbrow humor scattered throughout the film that’s become common ground for similar movies in recent years; but unlike most of them, there’s something beneath the surface here.
Neither Harold (John Cho) nor Kumar (Kal Penn) had ever been anything more than supporting players prior to the movie.
Their relative lack of name power was creatively used in one ad campaign for the movie, which proclaimed that it starred “The Asian guy from American Pie and the Indian guy from Van Wilder.”
The premise is rudimentary: Harold and Kumar are your typical guys in their early 20s; adults by law, but not quite ready to accept the barrage of responsibilities adulthood presents.
Harold, who works for an investment firm, is near the bottom rung of the corporate ladder. Kumar isn’t even employed, spending most of his days attending med school meetings to appease his doctor father.
After getting stoned one night, a White Castle ad plays on TV, sparking an obsession to get their hands on some “sliders” (the restaurant’s calling card) before the night ends.
Kumar seems to recall there being one near their apartment, but of course, that’d make for a boring movie. And indeed, when they arrive at the location, the White Castle is no longer there, ensuring at least another hour of wacky hijinks for the viewing audience (including a cameo by everyone’s favorite early 1990s TV adolescent doctor).
Harold and Kumar isn’t just a stoner flick. At first glance it is, but once you dig a bit deeper, you realize it’s much more.
Obtaining what you truly desire in life is a common goal for everyone, but one that is rarely achieved.
For Harold and Kumar, White Castle is what they desire; 30 “sliders,” five fries and four large Cherry Cokes each, to be precise.
While it garners little attention, the racial profiling of Asians and Indians in today’s society is very much a reality. The notion that every Asian loves to crunch numbers and all Indian men are destined to become doctors is a popular one, as untrue as it is.
Sure Harold and Kumar are in positions that would indicate that perhaps the stereotypes are factual. But the reality is, they’re both as American as you can get.
They could pass for their respective races based on their appearance, but their values, outlook on life, the way they talk, think and act are all similar to most Americans.
And yet, they’re stereotyped squarely for their appearance and nothing else. While the movie deters from this storyline quite a bit, it continually returns to it, shaping the issue a bit more each time.
"Harold and Kumar" takes a risk in focusing on the nationalities of the two leads as a focal storyline, which probably hasn’t done it any favors in the box office.
But ultimately, it’s a movie that satisfies various demographics on different levels and has all the right ingredients to become a cult film in due time.