Yahoo Lifestyle Why 'A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas' deserves to be on your holiday watch list
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"A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas" hit theaters in 2011 as the third installment in the beloved stoner comedy franchise. While it didn't quite reach the box office heights of its predecessors, 2004’s "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" and 2008’s "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,” it delivers a hilarious and heartwarming cinematic adventure with a unique charm that deserves a spot in every "Harold & Kumar" fan's holiday movie marathon.
For the uninitiated, the "Harold & Kumar" films follow the misadventures of Harold Lee (John Cho) and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn), two Asian American stoner friends with a penchant for getting into absurd situations.
In their Christmas escapade, we find Harold all grown up. He's landed a successful Wall Street job, married a beautiful woman and is trying to impress his father-in-law (played by Danny Trejo) during the holidays. Kumar, on the other hand, is still the same lovable man-child, smoking weed and generally avoiding responsibility. When Kumar accidentally burns down Harold's Christmas tree with a giant joint, it sets off a chain of increasingly absurd and hilarious events.
Comedy in three dimensions
Trending on NextShark: Why 'A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas' deserves to be on your holiday watch list
One of the most distinctive elements of "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas" is its playful use of 3D technology. Released during the 3D craze sparked by films like 2009’s "Avatar," the film cleverly satirizes the trend while simultaneously embracing its potential.
Even though Harold himself declares that 3D has "jumped the shark" early in the film, director Todd Strauss-Schulson finds inventive, creative and hilarious ways to utilize the technology, creating memorable scenes like Neil Patrick Harris's show-stopping musical number and a sequence where Harold and Kumar become claymation characters.
In an interview with Rebel Yellow, Strauss-Schulson admitted, "It was my first movie, and I really wanted to show off a bit. I loved the idea of 3D because it allowed me to combine William Castle-style showmanship with genuine Capra/Hughes heart." He said he aimed to create a film that was both "a bratty punk middle finger and incredibly warm … a Trojan horse movie … bawdy and aggressive on the outside and cozy and warm on the inside."
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“Cinematic Christmas cookie”
The "Harold & Kumar" films came out in an era when seeing two Asian American leads carrying a mainstream comedy film, especially one that subverted stereotypes and embraced cultural nuances, was groundbreaking.
As Cho reflected in 2022, “Its posture towards race is to laugh at it. Instead of elevating it, it took the stereotypes and turned the sock inside out. Looking back, I think we were ahead of our time a little bit.”
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"A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas" continued the franchise’s trend of pushing boundaries, but its critical reception was a bit more mixed. In his review of "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas" for Variety, Pulitzer-winning film critic Justin Chang dinged the film’s “hit-or-miss” approach for scaling back "its predecessors’ racially and politically charged humor," but still admitted that despite its flaws, the film is "a heartwarming affair, a cinematic Christmas cookie almost sweet and flaky enough to cover the fact that it’s laced with hash, cocaine and assorted bodily fluids, blood included."
The over-the-top embrace of the film’s absurdity is exactly what Strauss-Schulson aimed for.
"I think a lot of filmmakers feel ashamed or don’t wanna do a lot of stuff with the camera because they don’t wanna seem self-conscious or celebrate the joy of making a movie and that’s bullshit,” he explained. “This is a good story for a lot of show-off moments. And hopefully, I took advantage of all of them and did some stuff that you haven’t seen before.”
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Watch it already
Sure, some of the humor in “A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas” may feel slightly dated in 2024, but the film's self-aware absurdity and genuine heart more than compensate. The film has Machete, Santa Claus and a robot that makes the perfect waffles and saves the day. What more there is to ask?
Ultimately, "A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas" is a wild, hilarious and surprisingly heartwarming ride that will have you laughing, cringing and maybe even shedding a tear or two. If you're a fan of the franchise, or simply looking for a truly unconventional Christmas comedy that breaks the mold, the film is a must-watch.
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