Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle

REVIEW
Almost impossible not to like, this latest entry into the stoner road-movie genre follows the formula to a T(HC) while mixing some barbed humor into the melting pot. Showing tremendous chemistry as the two (heterosexual, as they repeatedly to point out) roommates, Asian-American actors Cho (Harold) and Penn (Kumar) are down-to-earth and utterly believable as two underacheiving twentysomethings eager to bust stereotypes in the workforce. Sometimes that just means sitting on the sofa and getting baked . . . which leads to the munchies . . . which leads to a trek across Jersey for a 6-pack of sliders and enough surreal adventures to keep the laughs coming for the full ninety minutes. All the familiar elements are here: a singalong to Wilson Phillips, chases with cops, the loss of a big stash; but they just exist to set up the unexpected: Meloni as a disgustingly boiled swinger by the name of Freakshow, Kumar's dream sequence about settling down in marriage with a massive bag of weed, and a high-on-E hitchhiker by the name of Neil Patrick Harris. Gross yet sweet, crude yet progressive, this amiable comedy belongs right up there with the works of Cheech & Chong, the original multi-ethnic stoners.