A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas
Director: Todd Strauss-Schulson
Starring: John Cho as Harold, Kal Penn as Kumar and Neil Patrick Harris as himself.
Rating: R
The typical Harold and Kumar movie is concerned with three major themes: drugs, sex and friendship. However, the newest iteration of the popular stoner series throws in a fourth: Christmas trees.
Mr. Perez (Danny Trejo)—Harold’s intimidating father-in-law—is obsessed with Christmas trees. For years, he’s grown his own from little seedlings, babying them until they’re evergreen models of perfection. The one he brings to Harold’s house for Christmas is a beauty—a 12-foot Douglas fir so full and so beautiful that it causes other, lesser trees to turn greener with envy. When Harold’s entrusted with the formidable task of decorating the tree, Harold accepts with a somber sense of duty.
Who could’ve guessed that only moments later, Harold’s estranged friend Kumar would show up on his doorstep with a mysterious package…and that the package contained a massive marijuana joint…and that Kumar would light the joint and accidentally set the tree on fire?
The story of A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas is filled with sex, drugs, profanity, nudity, violence, racism and sacreligion. It’s also a story about how two estranged friends reunite to find a very special tree—one that might be good enough for the fearsome Mr. Perez.
When the film opens, Harold has dropped his drug habit and is living the life of a responsible adult—one filled with all the rewards and duties such a life holds. Kumar, who still lives in a filthy apartment and spends most of his spare moments smoking weed, is aghast at his old friend’s yuppy suburban lifestyle. Why would he go to such efforts to please his father-in-law?
“I don’t have to,” Harold tells him. “I want to.” Why? Harold says he wants to please Mr. Perez because he knows it’ll make his wife happy; and he wants more than anything to do what’s right by his wife. He’s living a life not for himself, but for others.
This is an important lesson for someone such as Kumar to absorb. Early in the film, Kumar’s pregnant ex-girlfriend tells him that he’s great at making messes, but he’s worthless when it comes to cleaning them up. Indeed, Kumar early on—from his filthy apartment to unkempt appearance—suggests to viewers that his life is one big mess. After torching Harold’s Christmas tree, he appears to try his hand at cleaning up a mess or two; and he does his best to help Harold find his tree (even if he doesn’t fully understand Harold’s motivation). When he sees how dedicated Harold is to his wife’s happiness, Kumar tries to reunite with his own ex, telling her that he wants to care for their baby to the best of his ability—even offering to drop his pot habit.
She doesn’t ask him to, naturally. This is, after all, a Harold and Kumar movie.
Questions:
1. Is there anyone whose happiness means the world to you? Someone whom you want to make happy, even if you have to go out of your way?
2. When you make a mess, do you clean it up afterward?
3. Mr. Perez seems pretty taken with his Christmas trees—for some complicated reasons. Is there anything about which you obsess that maybe isn’t such a big a deal?
