A VERY HAROLD AND KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS
Credits
Directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson
Produced by Greg Shapiro
Written by Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
Starring John Cho, Kal Penn, Neil Patrick Harris
Reviews
“This week, I saw A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, and I thought it was outrageously hilarious and, in its neo-’80s stoner-surreal way, a deeply clever and inspired movie. Maybe the best of the Harold & Kumar escapades. And so I said so. And to honestly reflect my enthusiasm, I gave the movie the grade that I thought it deserved: a straight A. No qualifications. No pesky niggling minus. An all-out rave….This third H&K movie may be the wittiest, and liveliest, one yet…. This one, directed by series newcomer Todd Strauss-Schulson, fuses misanthropy and sentimentality in hilariously off-kilter ways.”
—ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY/OWEN GLIEBERMAN
“The film’s director, Todd Strauss-Schulson, takes aggressive advantage of the 3-D format, sending all sorts of things shooting out at the audience: syrup, snow, streamers, a hat and lots of wacky-weed smoke….”
—NEW YORK TIMES CRITICS PICK
“Strauss-Schulson, directing his first feature, is never shy about going for the requisite excess — of either the franchise or the 3-D format — and the two aesthetics blend perfectly in one sequence that has plumes of cocaine falling like snow as Bing Crosby serenely croons “White Christmas. Strauss-Schulson doesn’t want the extra dimension to fade into the background as an afterthought; just as with the shameless showmen of 3-D’s original 1950s heyday, his vision of the medium is unabashedly in your face.”
-NPR
“There are some inspired moments: When Kumar speculates that Harold’s father-in-law will be so happy upon seeing their new replacement tree that he will “jizz on it,” we see a brief Guy Ritchiean slo-mo shot of Danny Trejo furiously ejaculating onto a Christmas tree. And the idea of state-of-the-art 3-D technology being used to fully immerse the audience in pot smoke works beautifully. . .Don’t laugh if I predict A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas turns out to be both one of the most earnest and subversive studio releases of the season.”
-NEW YORK MAGAZINE/VULTURE
“While I continue to object to 3D as a waste of time and money, I have to give it up to these filmmakers, who poke fun at the 3D itself, only to turn around and use it with more imagination and wit than any other film so far.”
-HUFFINGTON POST
“Harold & Kumar” creators Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg have once again written the screenplay but have handed the director’s chair over to newcomer Todd Strauss-Schulson, and it’s absolutely the right choice. . . I shouldn’t tell you too much more about the giddy excess of “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas” — and for once, you really should pay the extra few bucks for those glasses — but it’s pretty much one ridiculous set-piece after another, and you absolutely don’t need to be wasted to enjoy them. (I’m not saying that wouldn’t be awesome.)”
-SALON
“A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas does to the conventional Christmas movie what Hitler and Stalin did to Poland, except that this time it’s a good thing. And it’s about time.”
“Harold and Kumar’s third outing is a magnificent psychedelic pop-up card of a Christmas movie – glitter and tinsel everywhere, party streamers, candy canes and all the paraphernalia of the consumer-driven lunacy and tempestuous familial strife that is the holidays – and blessed with the wittiest and crudest 3D effects in ages.”
-THE GUARDIAN
From its title, you might assume this third film in the Harold & Kumar series is an idiotic paean to the festive season at its vapid, commercialised worst. But that would be to underestimate it: it’s also highly offensive and baroquely revolting.
The chaos that ensues is howlingly funny but also strikingly creative… they’re delivered with a genial grin and lack the sour undercurrent that has blighted gross-out of late. Even the 3D’s funny: the effect is used largely ironically and in the most banal contexts imaginable. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas’s slacker posturing belies a rare comedic rigour. It takes brains to be this thick.
-THE TELEGRAPH