Harold and Kumar smoke more weed

Joining the ranks of classic film duos such as Butch and Sundance, Bill and Ted, and Cheech and Chong, the ethnically diverse twosome Harold and Kumar (John Cho and Kal Penn) have now made their mark on film history. Back by popular demand, the characters pick up right where they left off with weed smoking, shoveling out racist jokes, and causing global chaos.

After mistakenly being busted for bringing a bomb, which is actually a bong, on a commercial flight, Harold and Kumar are detained. The inclination of “Escape from Guantanamo Bay” is somewhat misleading as Harold and Kumar end up in “Gitmo” for a total screen time of three minutes before escaping. For the duration of the film, the two travel the country in an attempt to clear their names.

As is typically the case with comedies, “Harold and Kumar” sacrifices storyline for laughs. The plot is nothing more than a collection of random characters whose sole purpose is to be the butt of stereotypical jokes. This works in large part because of Ron Fox (“The Daily Show”’s Rob Corddry) the ignorant, overtly racist agent in hot pursuit of the fugitives. He leaves no minority untouched in his verbal tirades.

What the film lacks in story it more than makes up for in chemistry. The characters are well-defined, which is the bare necessity for any decent comedy, and Cho and Penn play very well off each other. There is a return cameo by Neil Patrick Harris, drunk and tripping on mushrooms, not to mention a pot smoking George W. impersonator, which makes for a solid stoner sequel comedy.

The writer/director combination of Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg (who co-wrote the previous film) deserves credit for breaking down racial, ethnic, and religious stereotypes and ignoring any semblance of political correctness. The film’s humor seems to be directed toward a younger audience, but if young and old viewers alike cannot find any hilarity in the material, then our culture apparently still has a long way to go toward breaking down racial barriers and acknowledging the true comedic value of a well-timed fart.