Harold & Kumar is the name of a series of American films created by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. Beginning with Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004), and followed by Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008) and A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011), the films star John Cho, Kal Penn, and Neil Patrick Harris.
The films are considered buddy stoner comedies, with surreal and animated elements in later sequels. Contrasting ideas and perspectives on life, romance, and maturity feature as recurring themes, while the series is notable for its racially diverse main cast.
The first film was directed by Danny Leiner, the second was directed by creators Hurwitz and Schlossberg, and the third by Todd Strauss-Schulson. The films were distributed by New Line Cinema and Warner Bros.; the films were produced by Mandate Pictures, Kingsgate Films, Endgame Entertainment, and New Line Cinema. The films chronicle the adventures of Harold Lee (Cho) and Kumar Patel (Penn).
Harold & Kumar has received generally mixed to positive critical reception and is a commercial success, grossing over $102 million worldwide against a combined budget of $40 million.
Films
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)
Harold Lee and Kumar Patel are two Asian-American (Korean and Indian) stoners who get the munchies and embark on a quest throughout New Jersey for White Castle burgers after seeing them advertised on TV. On their journey, they encounter many obstacles, including a gang of extreme sports punks, a raccoon with an attitude, a group of East Asian nerds, a racist police department, a cheetah that has escaped from a zoo, and an out-of-control Neil Patrick Harris.
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)
Immediately following the events of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Harold Lee and Kumar Patel fly to Amsterdam so Harold can pursue a budding romance with his vacationing neighbor. The pair run into Vanessa, Kumar's ex-girlfriend, and her fiancé Colton, another old college buddy who helped Harold with getting a job at Brewster-Keagan, at the airport. During the plane flight, an elderly woman sees Kumar lighting a hand-crafted smokeless bong, thinks that it is a bomb, and screams "Terrorist!". After a confusion of the words "bong" and "bomb", two undercover air marshals tackle Kumar, who accidentally drops the bong on the floor, breaking it and releasing what another passenger thinks is "Poison gas!". Harold and Kumar are detained by Ron Fox, a racist Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, in Washington, D.C., who then sends them to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. But just as they are about to get sexually assaulted with a "cockmeat sandwich", the neighboring prisoners assault the guards and they are able to escape back to the United States with the help of Cuban boat people they encounter. They meet with their college friend, Raza, who arranges a car for them to travel to Texas in search of Colton, a member of a family who has connections with political officials. On the way to Texas, they encounter various people from an inbred trailer home family to the Ku Klux Klan to Neil Patrick Harris and George W. Bush.
A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011)
In April 2009, Kal Penn accepted the position of Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison in the Obama administration; when asked if his new job would mean no more Harold and Kumar films, he said, "That's probably true for now."
A new film entitled A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas was announced on May 7, 2009. Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg returned to write the film while Todd Strauss-Schulson directed. Greg Shapiro returned as producer with Kal Penn and John Cho reprising their title roles. Penn left his job with the White House on June 1, 2010, to reprise his role as Kumar in the third Harold & Kumar installment. After filming was completed, Penn returned to the White House.
A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas was released on November 4, 2011, and was the first film in the series to be shown in 3D. Seven years after the events of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, Harold and Kumar reconnect and embark on an adventure to find a new Christmas tree after Harold destroys the original while trying to dispose of Kumar's joint.
Future
In 2014, it was announced that Adult Swim picked up Harold and Kumar: The Animated Series, and this was confirmed by Kal Penn, David Krumholtz, and Jon Hurwitz. However, it was never produced.