Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)

Director:

Danny Leiner

Writers (WGA):

Jon Hurwitz (written by) and
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 | Police Officer | Raccoon

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)
2 colgaos muy fumaos (Spain) [es]
American High (Denmark) [da]
American High (Norway) (DVD title) [no]
American Trip - il primo viaggio non si scorda mai (Italy) [it]
Aventura nocturna (Argentina) (video title) [es]
Grande Moca, Meu (Portugal) [pt]
Harold & Kumar (Estonia) [et]
Harold & Kumar (Norway) (short title) [no]
Harold & Kumar - täydellisen hampurilaisen metsästys (Finland) [fi]
Harold & Kumar chassent le burger (France) [fr]
Harold und Kumar (Austria) [de]
Harold y Kumar - aventura nocturna (Mexico) [es]
Madrugada Muito Louca (Brazil) [pt]
O dwóch takich, co poszli w miasto (Poland) [pl]
Ti ipiame htes vrady? (Greece) [el]

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:

The characters Rosenberg and Goldstein are also a reference to the characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in the play "Hamlet". The writers hope to create an alternate film with these characters that takes place in the same time period much like the way that the play "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead" takes place in the same time period as "Hamlet".

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Harold and Kumar are arguing outside the gas station, a sign that says "Self Server" can be seen in the background of the shot by the pumps. New Jersey does not allow self service at gas stations, only full service.

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:

Spoofs Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Soundtrack:

Fall In Line

A Hilarious Social Satire disguised as a drug-sex romp

Yes this film is rude, crude, over the top, full of choppy editing (probably to ensure an R not NC-17)and sometimes cliché', but it works. Yes there is plenty of Drug Humor and sex humor, but the funniest stuff is actually the on going humor involved with racial inequality and characters who learn how to break those typifications because of their symbolic journey to White Castle. This film pushes the line between being too crude and sometimes too smart for it's own good. The Acting is Right on from the 2 leads and there are quite a bit of funny cameos.

This film is similar to the American Pie films, but substitute the cutesy wootesy sub plots and messages with a realistic and brash message about race and class equality and beating the typifications we in life get tagged with constantly.

The film has plenty of raunchy humor which acts as a great balance to the theme. It does dabble with some stereotypes but the times the stereotpyes are broken especially from Kumar who brings a light fun and jovial spirit to the film and has some of the funniest moments.

At times the editing is so bad, especially when Kumar is peeing by the bush.

The editing ruins a perfectly cast cameo which gets wasted it just ends up making no sense because of obvious excessive cuts.

But overall I found it very very funny, and I did not leave feeling stupid like I did after the funny yet inherently stupid Dodgeball, but left thinking about these social and racial issues. Overall, I left a funny satire with some strong points and ideas that sometimes get overshot but still resonate . . . . a little anyway. Still funny as hell though even if you miss the hidden almost subliminal message within the film.