Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle: Difference between revisions

'''Harold''': Agreed! }}

 

 

[[John Cho|Harold]] and [[Kal Penn|Kumar]] are two New Jersey natives with problems. Harold is an uptight investment banker who is taken advantage of by his douchebag bosses and cannot work up the courage to talk to his hot neighbor Maria; Kumar is being pressured by his dad to attend medical school when he would rather relax.

After getting high and seeing a commercial for White Castle, the duo decide to travel to the nearest White Castle in Cherry Hill for burgers. Unfortunately for them problems, some caused by their own actions, most by events outside of their control, arise to stop Harold and Kumar from reaching their goal.

 

 

The movie is also notable for bringing [[Neil Patrick Harris]] back into spotlight. Playing a [[Adam Westing|womanizing, Ecstasy addicted version of himself]] [[One-Scene Wonder|for a couple of scenes]], audiences were reminded that [[Neil Patrick Harris]] can do things besides [[Doogie Howser, M.D.|Doogie Howser]]. Studios quickly picked up on that, and [[How I Met Your Mother|the rest is history]].

 

 

* [[Adam Westing]]: Neil Patrick Harris as a crazed, perverted, drug-addled, ''incredibly heterosexual'' [[Former Child Star]] version of himself.

* [[Air Vent Passageway]]: [[Inverted Trope|Inversion]]; Kumar breaks into a police station where Harold is being held to bust him out. {{spoiler|And then subverted when Kumar drops through the vent onto the floor. Thankfully he made a decoy call so the station's empty.}}

* [[Ambiguously Gay]]: Rosenberg and Goldstein.

* [[As Himself]]: [[Neil Patrick Harris]], though it's a subversion as he specifically requested to be credited "as Neil Patrick Harris" instead of "as Himself", so that people didn't think he was ''actually'' a drug-sniffing, car-stealing womanizer.

** In a bit of [[Actor Allusion]], he mentions that he was able to [[Doogie Howser, M.D.|perform appendectomies at age 14]].

*** He also claimed to have had sex with Whoopie Goldberg's stand-in while filming ''Clara's Heart'' at age 14.

* [[Asian and Nerdy]]: Harold's co-workers cites this as justification for tricking Harold into doing his work.

** Subverted by Cindy Kim and her East Asian Club. They appear to be straight-laced nerds, but turn out to be drug-using party animals.

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Harold. Possibly, Neil Patrick Harris as well.

* [[Brilliant but Lazy]]: Kumar.

* [[Butt Monkey]]: Harold. Exploited at work because of his ethnicity, has parking spaces stolen from him by extreme sports enthusiasts, his best friend uses his scissors for manscaping, he gets attacked by a raccoon, Neil Patrick Harris steals his car, he gets arrested for jaywalking (well, admittedly he also unintentionally punched the cop in the face), his laptop gets destroyed, he gets clotheslined by a tree branch while riding a cheetah, and on top of all of that, he's completely unable to talk to the girl he has a crush on. Harold isn't just the [[Butt Monkey]]; he's distinctly headed into [[The Woobie|woobie]] territory.

* [[Buxom Is Better]]

'''Kumar''': Nice! }}

* [[Cannot Spit It Out]] / [[Cannot Talk to Women]]: Harold is unable to confess his love for Maria until the very end.

* [[Everybody Remembers the Stripper]]: In-universe. Rosenberg and Goldstein watch ''The Gift'' for the sole purpose of seeing Katie Holmes's breasts.

* [[Fan Disservice]]: Two college girls who are also twins with English accents? {{spoiler|Fantasy completely ruined when the boys overhear them playing a game of "Battleshits".}}

* [[Has Two Mommies|Has Two Daddies]]: Tarik, the guy Harold and Kumar meet in jail.

* [[Hero of Another Story]]: Rosenberg and Goldstein.

* [[Meganekko]]: Cindy Kim

* [[The Millstone]]: Harold's life would be a lot more hassle-free if Kumar wasn't always looking for weed.

* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]

* [[No Fourth Wall]]: The DVD menu for the first film, where both characters comment on the options available as well as how long the viewer takes to make a selection.

* [[Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up]]: Kumar accuses a cop of being this, to which the cop happily admits.

* [[Serious Business]]: White Castle hamburgers. One other fast-food cook wants to burn down his restaurant for them.

'''Kumar''': Where's his car, dude?! }}

** A reference to ''Better Luck Tomorrow'' (2002) where Cho played the antagonist.

** Ryan Reynolds wiping Kumar's brow mirrors the scene in Van Wilder where they perform surgery on the dog-sandwiches together.

** Rosenberg and Goldstein are a reference to ''[[Hamlet]]'''s (or Stoppard's) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. How's ''that'' for an unexpected [[Genius Bonus]]?

* [[Shown Their Work]]: Yes, there are White Castle restaurants in New Jersey.

* [[A Simple Plan]]: Two guys want to go to a fast food restaurant; what could be simpler? Apparently, a lot.

* [[The Stoner]]: Almost every character is this, from the titular characters.

* [[Stoners Are Funny]]

* [[Token Minority]]: parodied by posters advertising the first movie as starring "That Asian guy from ''[[American Pie]]''" and "That Indian guy from ''Van Wilder''".

* [[Typecasting]]: Kumar lampshades and subverts this:

* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: Kumar isn't interested in being a doctor like his father is. {{spoiler|He has an epiphany at the end of the first film and decides to give it a shot anyway.}}

* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Neil Patrick Harris attempts to avert this at the end of the first movie by approaching Harold and Kumar, apologising for his role in the previous night's events, and offering to pay for their breakfast. They then launch into this trope anyway, leaving him to irritably point out that he's aware of the dick move he pulled, hence the apology-and-offer-to-buy-their-breakfast.

* [[World of Cardboard Speech]]: Harold's tirade to his coworkers at the end.

 

[[Category:Films of the 2010s]]

[[Category:Films of the 2000s]]