Now that I sit down to write it, I realize I don't have a whole lot to say about Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. I don't remember all that much of the movie, and although a lot of the duo's fanbase might laugh knowingly at that statement, it's not for the reason you're thinking of. The movie has more of a plot than the first one, but none of its grubby charm, and while Harold and Kumar Escape from White Castle never broke the tone of moron stoner comedy while it was making its own small points, the sequel keeps slapping you in the face with it: it's all about race, stupid.

The set-piece encounters Harold and Kumar get into, this time on the run from the law through the American South, don't get as funny as the first one's high (heh heh) points and they also never match the low-budget zaniness of the original -- there's no equivalent the unique cheetah-riding scene. A lot of the funniest bits are recalls to the first film. In another film this same sort of recycling might seem gratuitous (c.f. the diminishing returns of the Austin Powers sequels) but since the first Harold and Kumar was a barely-seen movie that became a massive cult hit on DVD, the fan service seems more warranted.

The worst aspect of the new movie is that there's a Graduate-style we-gotta-stop-the-wedding storyline forced upon the movie and in particular Kal Penn, who never gets to display the full ease his character once had. A hoary wedding bells plot -- any sort of plot, really -- was not called for in a Harold and Kumar sequel.

Also, Neil Patrick Harris. What a great continuing comeback story. His role in the first movie made him marginally visible again and probably got him "How I Met Your Mother." The season finale of that show was on the other day and Harris stole the episode as he does almost every one (which on a show with Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan is no mean feat). He returns in Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, and his character "Neil Patrick Harris" will evidently be available for the sequel -- my regular admonishments to my girlfriend to sit through the ending credits of every movie finally paid off.