John Cho and Kal Penn fit into a tradition of doltish double-acts, following Bing & Bob, Jerry & Dino, Cheech & Chong, Bill & Ted and Wayne & Garth.
This sequel to the surprisingly successful Harold & Kumar Get the Munchies (as it was titled in the UK) riffs on the War on Terror as the ethnic buddies are taken for terrorists on a plane (‘North Korea and Al-Quaeda working together’) when Kumar’s bong is mistaken for a bomb. Rather than sample ‘the cock meat sandwich’ in Gitmo, they escape and flee across country. It all goes wrong.
The political gags are funnier than the stoner jokes and it runs out of puff before a toke-happy George W. Bush (James Adomian) shows up, but it scrapes by on its stars’ refusal to respect anything or anyone.
