Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle

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Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
Directed by	Danny Leiner
Produced by	Greg Shapiro
Written by	Jon Hurwitz Hayden Schlossberg
Starring	John Cho Kal Penn Neil Patrick Harris
Music by	David Kitay
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	July 30, 2004
Running time	88 min.
Country	United States Canada
Language	English
Budget	$9 million
Gross revenue	$18,000,000
Followed by	Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (released in some countries as Harold & Kumar Get the Munchies) is a 2004 stoner comedy film. The plot revolves around the two pot-smoking title characters, who decide to go to the fast food restaurant White Castle after smoking marijuana, but when they cannot find the restaurant, they have a series of comical misadventures.

The film was written by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, and directed by Danny Leiner. Starring John Cho (Harold) and Kal Penn (Kumar), it also features appearances by Fred Willard, Paula Garcés, Anthony Anderson, Dan Bochart, Ethan Embry, Jamie Kennedy, Bobby Lee, Christopher Meloni, Ryan Reynolds, Shaun Majumder, David Krumholtz, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Malin Akerman and Neil Patrick Harris (in a parody of himself).

The film was positively received by critics, with a 73% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.^[1][2]

Contents 1 Cast and characters 2 Plot 3 Box office performance 4 DVD and Blu-ray release 5 Sequels 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Cast and characters

• John Cho as Harold Lee: A young Korean-American man working at his first job in investment banking.
• Kal Penn as Kumar Patel: A second generation Indian-American whose family assumes he will become a doctor like his father and brother, though he does not want to.
• Paula Garcés as Maria Quesa Dilla: Harold and Kumar's beautiful neighbour, on whom Harold has a massive crush.
• Neil Patrick Harris as Neil Patrick Harris: A fictionalized portrayal of the former star of Doogie Howser, M.D., whom Harold and Kumar pick up hitchhiking, but who ends up stealing their car.
• Jordan Prentice as Giant Bag of Weed

[edit] Plot

The plot summary in this article is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the content. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. (May 2009)

The movie begins with entry level investment banker Harold Lee being taken advantage of by two of his coworkers, Billy Carver (Ethan Embry) and J.D. (Robert Tinkler), who pour extra work on him so they can take off for a long weekend. In the meantime Kumar Patel, Harold's roommate, is interviewing for medical school admission until he takes a call from Harold, in the course of which he uses vulgarity and overt drug references in the presence of the admissions officer, Dr. Willoughby (Fred Willard). That, combined with an admission that he has no real interest in medical school despite having a perfect MCAT score, and that he only interviews so that his dad will continue to pay for his apartment, results in his being immediately rejected for admission.

Meanwhile Harold has his own problems: he cannot make his way out of the company parking lot without being ID'd by security, cannot park in front of his apartment building because a group of "extreme sports punks" always park there, is too shy to express his feelings toward his beautiful neighbor, Maria (Paula Garcés), and finds out that not only does Kumar trim his pubic hair and his "ass hair" in Harold's bedroom naked, but also that he uses Harold's nose hair scissors to do so. (Harold also is a fan of the film Sixteen Candles, which he gets razzed for by Kumar.)

Later that evening, after smoking marijuana, Harold and Kumar get the munchies and happen to see a TV ad for White Castle. They decide to make a trip to get some hamburgers. They try to convince their friends Goldstein (David Krumholtz) and Rosenberg (Eddie Kaye Thomas), who refuse as they are watching The Gift to see Katie Holmes topless. Finding a White Castle ends up being more difficult than they had anticipated. They discover that the White Castle they had planned to visit in New Brunswick has been replaced by the inferior "Burger Shack", but are told by a Burger Shack employee that there is a 24 hour White Castle in Cherry Hill.

During the trip, Kumar begins to "come down" and suggests they stop off at Princeton University and have Harold's friend Cindy Kim (Siu Ta), who invited him to a party there and who also has an unrequited crush on Harold, help them "score" some more weed. While Harold indulges Cindy, Kumar manages to buy some marijuana from a self-proclaimed "business hippie" named Bradley (Dov Tiefenbach), and meets two college girls that invite him to their room. While they are smoking a joint on a staircase, a campus security guard (Albert Howell) catches them and gives chase. Harold and Kumar run into the women's bathroom to hide, getting in there just ahead of the two girls they met earlier. However, they do not stay in there too long as the girls, who are in stalls on either side of the one Harold and Kumar are hiding in, engage in a game of "Battleshits" which cause the two to flee as fast as they can. However, in the process, they lose the bag of weed Kumar has procured. Fortunately for them, they escape before security can catch them and instead cause the "business hippie" to be arrested on the way.

Resuming their journey, Kumar decides to pull over the car so he can urinate. He leaves the door open, allowing a raccoon to sneak into the car unbeknownst to Harold. After relieving himself (and having an odd conversation with a man (Jamie Kennedy) who also was using Kumar's peeing bush), Kumar returns to the car to find the raccoon. It bites Harold, who believes he has caught rabies, and nearly causes them to crash into another car after Harold throws the raccoon out the window. Harold then convinces Kumar to take him to the nearest hospital despite Kumar's objections, as the closest hospital features Kumar's father (Errol Sitahal) and brother Saikat (Shaun Majumder) on staff.

Upon learning that Harold does not have rabies, he and Kumar attempt to leave only to be intercepted by Dr. Patel and Saikat, who angrily confront him over his failed medical school interview and threaten to cut Kumar off if he fails another. Kumar appears to be repentant, even hugging his father and brother, but reveals to Harold that he only did that so he could get their access cards so the two of them could search for medical marijuana. Before they find anything, however, Kumar is mistaken for his brother and pressed into Emergency Room duty by a hospital assistant (Ryan Reynolds). He suggests that they sedate the patient, a gunshot victim, with marijuana. Learning that the hospital does not have any, he decides to do things the "old-fashioned" way. After saving the patient's life, they get directions to the White Castle in Cherry Hill from the patient.

Back on the road, Kumar spots a movie theater showing Sixteen Candles and Maria walking out of the theater. He decides to try and get Maria's attention so Harold can talk to her, but Harold ducks down and pushes the gas pedal causing the car to spin out of control. To make matters worse, Harold is stuck in between Kumar and the floor and the car crashes down a hill. As perhaps a climax, Harold discovers his spare tire is missing and Kumar is the reason why (as he had thrown it off a bridge while high to see if it would float).

Shortly thereafter a God-loving, boil-faced tow-truck driver nicknamed "Freakshow" arrives on the scene to help Harold and Kumar He takes them back to his house to repair their car and informs them they can make themselves at home and have sex with his wife (Malin Akerman). They have a discussion in which Harold and Kumar agree to have sex with her at the same time. Although reluctant at first, Harold begins fondling her breasts when Freakshow comes in. Even though he initially forgets his earlier offer, he strips and suggests a four-some. This causes the duo to flee to their car and drive away.

Back on the road, a lost Harold and Kumar pick up a strung out Neil Patrick Harris, who is high on ecstasy^[3] and has been hitchhiking after being thrown from a car.. They head into a gas station convenience store where, after another confrontation with the "extreme sports punks", the store's cashier (Rick Sood) gives them directions. As they leave the store, they find Harris driving away in Harold's car.

Harold has finally reached his breaking point and tells Kumar that he's not talking to him anymore, then attempts to go across the street so he can call the police about his car. Kumar convinces him to cross the street despite the traffic light being red, which leads to an altercation with Officer Palumbo (Sandy Jobin-Bevans), a racist cop who fines Harold for jaywalking even though there are no cars on the road. Kumar instigates an argument that ends in Harold being taken to jail for assaulting a police officer after he punches Palumbo in the face (although he was aiming for Kumar, who ducked).

While in jail Harold sees Bradley the "business hippie"; Bradley's bag of weed has been confiscated and his mother takes him home. He then meets an African-American professor Tarik (Gary Anthony Williams), who claims he was busted for being black. After making a fake 911 call, Kumar breaks Harold out of the jail but catches a whiff of weed and finds Bradley's confiscated bag. Kumar takes it before fleeing with Harold into the nearby woods.

Now lost in the woods, Harold & Kumar encounter an escaped cheetah they had heard about on the news. Kumar tames the cheetah by getting it stoned and they resume their journey by riding the cheetah. Unfortunately, Harold is hit by a branch, falls off and goes unconscious. He awakens to find that his laptop has been damaged. Additionally, the cheetah took them in the wrong direction and they are still lost.

After finding their way out of the woods, they find a hot dog joint and see their neighbors Goldstein and Rosenberg eating hot dogs and looking happy. Harold decides that he craves that feeling of satisfaction that comes from getting what you want. After yet another encounter with the "extreme sports punks", Harold and Kumar steal the punks' orange Ford Bronco. Shortly, a police officer spots the truck and begins pursuing them. They temporarily elude the officer by driving off-road through the woods but are trapped at the edge of a cliff.

Harold is now ready to give up on the adventure, but Kumar makes a passionate speech about their journey and happens to spot the White Castle they have been searching for right below them. They take a hang glider off the truck and glide off the cliff to reach their destination. Having finally arrived at the White Castle, they place their orders only to discover that neither of them has any money. To their rescue comes Neil Patrick Harris, who apologizes for what he did and pays for their meal and returns Harold's car.

After eating, Kumar has an epiphany and realizes that he has always wanted to be a doctor, but was too afraid of being one of those "nerdy Indian guys turned doctor", and says he might actually go to his next medical school interview. During this Billy and J.D, his co-workers who left him with their work walk in and Harold angrily confronts them and warns them to stop dumping their work on him or he will tell their boss. Arriving back at their apartment, they encounter Maria in the hallway, waiting for the elevator. Kumar makes Harold ride back downstairs with her. In the elevator, after an awkward start, Harold professes his love for Maria and the two kiss. Unfortunately, she is leaving for a trip to Amsterdam. Kumar then convinces Harold to go with him on the next plane to Amsterdam, reminding him: "You do realize what's legal in Amsterdam, don't ya?"

[edit] Box office performance

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $5,480,378 in 2135 theatres in the United States and Canada. In total it had a worldwide gross of $23,936,908.^[4]

[edit] DVD and Blu-ray release

The film was released in a theatrical and Unrated edition DVD on January 4, 2005 and was re-released again on April 1, 2008 in an "Extreme Unrated" edition remastered in time for the new sequel, which opened in theatres worldwide April 25, 2008. The film was released on Blu-Ray disc on July 29, 2008 along with the DVD release of Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Sequels

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay is the 2008 sequel to White Castle. The movie revolved around Harold and Kumar trying to get to Amsterdam to find Maria, but when Kumar is mistaken for a terrorist on the plane, they're sent to Guantanamo Bay.

Both Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg have announced plans to write and direct a third Harold and Kumar movie, with Greg Shapiro returning as producer, and Kal Penn and John Cho expected to return in their title roles.^[5][6]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle

• Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle at the Internet Movie Database
• Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle at Allmovie
• Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle at Rotten Tomatoes
• Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle at Metacritic
• Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle at Box Office Mojo

v • d • e Harold & Kumar series Films Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle · Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay Actors Kal Penn · John Cho · Neil Patrick Harris

v • d • e Films directed by Danny Leiner Time Expired (1992) · Layin' Low (1996) · Dude, Where's My Car? (2000) · Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004) · The Great New Wonderful (2005) · Ball’s Out: The Gary Houseman Story (2008)