At the start of the film, Kumar (played by Kal Penn) is living in a crappy, trashed-up apartment where he has the tendency to get high. Meanwhile, his old buddy Harold (played by John Cho) is living in a house with his wife, Maria. They're holding a Christmas party, and Maria has invited her entire family, including her father, Mr. Perez (played by Danny Trejo). Mr. Perez is disappointed that Harold's tree is fake, so he brings in a tree that he grew himself and tells Harold to decorate it while they go out for a midnight party. However, Kumar comes by to deliver a package for Harold that got delivered to his apartment, they find out it's a joint, Kumar tries to smoke it, and he ends up setting the tree on fire. So now, the two have to join forces once more to find a new tree before Mr. Perez finds out what happened.
As simple as this plot sounds, it winds up as one of the craziest adventures I've seen on screen. It completely deprives itself of any piece of reality and just churns out an insane, f**ked up stream of craziness. There is no other film that could make a high baby that can walk on walls, the dance club version of heaven, and a robot built to make waffles that can also kick a gang's ass so much fun to watch. It is true that this kind of stuff has been attempted at several times, primarily by idiots like Aaron Seltzer and Jason Freidberg, but unlike films like Disaster Movie or Baby Geniuses where the jokes are just thrown together for no apparent reason, this film works in a different way.
The jokes in this film work because they're set up around the teasing of all the Christmas traditions we're so familiar with. Not only that, but the direction and execution here is very extravagant. The waffle bot is there to tease the heavily advertised toys during this time of the year. Harold and Kumar start seeing themselves as stop-motion clay figures to tease those... ahem... "classic" stop-motion Christmas movies. The way it blends those parodies with its vulgarity and arrogance makes for a fun Christmas movie.
Now, I have yet to see any of the other Harold and Kumar films, so I don't know what the chemistry between these two leads was like before, but I do like the chemistry that was set up here. The idea of an imbecile siding with a not-so-idiotic guy is a set-up as old as film itself, and it still manages to work with these two. What I mainly like about this set-up is that Harold attempts to move away from the idiocy that he and Kumar supposedly used to pull off and just get on with his life without him. By the end, however, they're still the best of buds and they still need to stick together, especially for the holidays.
What I like the most about this film, however, is the way it utilizes its 3D. Now, I'm just going to be up front and say that I hate 3D, or rather what filmmakers use 3D for. These days, if a 3D film doesn't try to be innovative (which rarely happens), it will only add a slight amount of depth for the sake of adding three dollars to your ticket. Because of the gimmick's ridiculousness, this film decides to make fun of it as much as it can. The main thing it does is it throws a ton of objects at you, which is a classic gimmick that's been dying out over recent years, but is fully welcome here. The 3D gags work just as well as all the other jokes here, once again due to set-up and delivery.
On the whole, A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas is a very satisfying comedy. It's a wild adventure that takes advantage of the commercialism of Christmas and the gimmicky nature of 3D and satirizes them with all its might. The two leads have fantastic chemistry, getting me quite interested in seeing their other films. Do not miss this one, folks. It's a sleigh ride you will never forget.
This film is worth $14 out of $20.
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