Fridae

Who could forget Harold and Kumar's eventful journey to White Castle? And for those of us who had lived through the 80s, who could forget the Wilson Philips moment in the film, where Harold and Kumar are driven by an irresistible compulsion to sing along to Hold On?

The good news is they're back, four years after the first movie, but the not-so-good news is that Escape from Guantanamo Bay pales in comparison to >White Castle. The jokes feel a little too much like retreads of those found in the first film, and although the film still remains sporadically funny, it doesn't manage to break any new ground.

Escape from Guantanamo Bay picks up immediately where the previous film left off � Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) have decided to fly down to Amsterdam to pursue Harold's love of his life, but after a bungled bong attempt on the plane, the two are arrested and sent to Guantanamo Bay on suspicion of terrorism. Somehow, they manage to escape the facility rather rapidly, and go on the run, doggedly pursued by the extremely politically incorrect NSA operative Ron Fox (Rob Corddry).

The duo decides to seek out Kumar's ex-girlfriend's fianc� to get out of the jam, and thus embark on another road trip, this time to Texas. It's not going to be as easy as it seems � and if you knew how much trouble they had to go through to scarf down some burgers, you will guess (accurately) that this time it's just a notch below Mission: Impossible.

Escape from Guantanamo Bay does, surprisingly, manage to weave in a fair amount of social commentary amidst the laughs. If two slacker dudes like Harold and Kumar can end up behind bars due to suspected terrorism, what does this reflect of the level of paranoia and ineptitude that lurks behind the so-called Homeland Security? However, it's the addition of politics into the fray that dilutes the comedic aspect of this sequel, and one can legitimately question the necessity of such an introduction in a genre like stoner comedies.

The now openly-gay Neil Patrick Harris makes another cameo appearance that's just as memorable as his first, perhaps a little more shocking this time round, but it's really nothing you haven't seen in White Castle. And that's the inherent problem that plagues the entire film � if it copies so freely from White Castle without many changes, then why even spend the money to watch this sequel to begin with?