Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle

 Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle 

Once you finish high school, turn 18, get your license and a car, the new wave of freedom and independence is amazing. With more time on your hands and what feels like less responsibility at first, is available in spades, so catching up with your mates on Friday and Saturday nights became the weekly ritual.

By the time 2004 rolled around, I had been out of school for a few years, and my mates from school and I were well accustomed to taking long drives at night, and into the early hours of the morning. 

After which, we’d sleep it off all day and start it all again next weekend – because we could.

But backtrack to the late 80’s, and the movies comical duo of the spotlight was none other than Bill and Ted. From their first Excellent Adventure to their following Bogus Journey, there were the poster boys of the young, dumb and carefree generation. Then in the 90’s, it was Wayne and Garth. “Wayne’s World” was the feature film of a popular skit from TV show Saturday Night Live, where actors Mike Myers and Dana Carvey went on their first big screen adventure to defend their beloved public access television show from a sleazy producer. I grew up watching the films of these characters, but every decade must bring in it’s new dynamic duo to reinvent young and dumb for the next generation. 

During the years of my 20’s, it was Harold and Kumar. Taking the actors better know as “That Indian Guy from Van Wilder” and “That Asian Guy who said M.I.L.F. from America Pie”, our generation found it’s new heroes. Different from previous movie partnerships, Harold and Kumar were not seen as cool. Being the nerds, and the ethnic ones, they were the target of bullies, jocks and wankers, constantly giving them a hard time for just being who they were. So, what are two hapless losers to do? Hang out, smoke weed and fantasise about going to a burger joint called White Castle, but of course.

“Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle” welcomed the movie scenes new comedy duo, being the first of three films over almost a decade. The plot is explained in the title of the film, and it might sound stupid (well, it is), but this little comedy could surprise you. 

Firstly, the lead actors are well cast and do a very good job. They have great chemistry together and nail their performances as two fish out of water characters, who look dumb but are really smart, just drifting aimlessly through life. The set up for the film is simple enough; it’s a Friday night, and after a rough day, Harold and Kumar are kicking back in their apartment sharing a joint. Naturally, they get the munchies and Kumar has a brilliant beyond brilliant idea. Go and get a burger, but not just any burger… a White Castle Burger. The King of Takeaway restaurants in the ‘burbs, but also the most elusive as there is only one in the whole region. Jumping in their car and driving there should be easy enough, right? 

Wrong!

Harold and Kumar experience one random situation after another, including stopping at a college to score some weed and pick up chicks, only to be chased by a security guard into a girls toilet where they hide, then the girls they want to pick up both take turns playing “’Battleshits” in the cubicles. Guess the rest! Then, their car swerves off the road after a homicidal racoon hitches a ride, but they’re saved by a random tow truck driver who has some skin infection of pulsating, puss-filled boils all over his face and neck, and looks like a serial killer. Don’t worry, because it’s just warming up and things get weirder. 

In a surprise casting choice, former child doctor Doogie Howser MD star Neil Patrick Harris shows up on the side of the freeway, so Harold and Kumar pick him up. He plays himself, and adding a twist to his own persona, is a boozing, horny lunatic who takes the boys on a wild ride, and beyond. Certainly, this film helped reinvigorate an interest in NPH, who would be cast in the pivotal role of Barney in “How I Met Your Mother”, and the rest is history as they say. 

Harold and Kumar, the film and the characters, is one of my favourites, and in a stupid way, rings true of many moments from my younger years. On plenty of Friday and Saturday nights, me and the guys would be sitting around watching TV, get the munchies, hop in the car and drive to the local McDonald’s. Our point of call was the 24-hour Maccas in Doveton; the first pit stop for the night to stock up on Quarter Pounders or a McGradecak (a burger invented by my friend and using his surname – it was an insane burger), then hitting the road for a few laps down Chapel Street, or even better, driving off into the night to God knows where, deciding to go as far as the state border and back again. 

One night, a few of us did this, and hoping the late-night cruise would turn into some crazy, hilarious adventure – just like Harold and Kumar – I documented everything that happened. The highlights were; seeing a sign on the freeway for a town called Howlong, a dead kangaroo on the side of the road, stopping at a service station for petrol and Coke, then finally arriving at the Victorian-New South Wales border where the only thing open was a diner, which sold burgers. We had a burger. It was okay. We sat there for an hour. Then decided to drive back. The destination didn’t matter, nor how long we spent there – it was about the time in the car. 

Driving duties were usually reserved to my friend with the souped-up Ford, the sub’s and killer speakers, and playing music loud and long was the order of the day. So was having random conversations about life, the Universe and stupid hypothetical situations we came up with, which would never happen in reality, but so what – they made for interesting debates, where each of us tried to outdo and outsmart the other with some witty comment. And this was what we did in our 20’s; driving around, maybe stopping for a burger somewhere, but never reaching the heights of mayhem and randomness as Harold and Kumar. No matter, the movie would suffice. 

Over the years, Harold and Kumar returned for a sequel, where they were headed to Amsterdam, but got kicked off the plane for smuggling a bong and weed on board – then end up in Guantanamo Bay Prison. They escape, and try to find a way back to Amsterdam, where the weed is legal and flows like water. Then to top of the “trilogy” the duo did a Christmas flick, showing they’d aged and drifted apart, but when the chips were down, returned to their old ways to save the day, and let shenanigans rein. 

Harold and Kumar were the buddy films of my 20’s, and the type of films you watched with your buddies. Sure, the movies were dumb, the characters were dumber, but somewhere in the silly stories, there were nuggets of wisdom. Something about finally growing up, taking responsibility, becoming an adult, settling down…. nah, scratch that. Let’s just go get a burger! 

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