Edwin Arnaudin
“Hasn’t the whole 3D thing jumped the shark by now?”
Relevant as this question is today, it was actually posed onscreen way back in 2011 at what felt like this technology/cynical-money-grab’s peak.
Two years after James Cameron turned the gimmick into must-see entertainment with Avatar, and right before Peter Jackson and Ang Lee started messing around with frame rates, John Cho’s Harold raised the issue of 3D’s relevancy in the opening minutes of A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. That such playful pessimism is admissible in a film with 3D in its title is but one of the many charms of this smart, hilarious comedy that’s not only a very good holiday film but a great 3D movie.
Far too often, 3D films aren’t shot or rendered natively in 3D but are merely 2D movies converted into 3D during post-production. Though there are some exceptions, since these films weren’t shot with 3D in mind, this process mainly adds depth to the visuals and little else. But director Todd Strauss-Schulson and the screenwriting team of Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg (who also wrote the two previous series installments) have fun with 3D’s possibilities and make the 3D movie they — and other skeptics of the technology — have long wanted to see.
By the time Harold’s assistant Bobby Lee (Kenneth Park) unveils the big-screen TV with “3D technology that makes Avatar look Avatar-ded” — his words, not mine — that’s meant to impress Harold’s father-in-law, Mr. Perez (a perfectly cast Danny Trejo), after which he gives two exaggerated thumbs-up directly at the viewer, the filmmakers have already nicely established 3D’s cheeky potential.
Setting that tone is Harold’s semi-estranged best friend Kumar (Kal Penn) blowing a marijuana smoke ring at viewers that, through some form or sorcery, transforms into a holly wreath. It’s the ideal introduction to the film’s stoner Christmas vibe as well as the copious amount of objects destined to comically fly towards us viewers.
While such “duck, you sucker!!!” shenanigans are perhaps expected in any respectable 3D film that acknowledges the fun of temporary peril from items being hurled at the screen (and, if the execution is skilled, that item then magically passing into the goddamn theater), A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas builds on that concept and features multiple instances of this barrier between movie and audience treated as a tangible thing.
Instead of eggs lobbed by Wall Street protestors flying at Bobby and merely zipping out of frame, one splatters against the screen. And later on during a chase sequence — if a minivan in pursuit of a Jeep Wagoneer can be called that — numerous traffic cones are launched at the screen, one of which shatters the glass which, seconds later, is thankfully good as new. These gags may be quick, but they add a layer of humor that’s absent in the large majority of franchise films, 3D included.
The problem is that, unless you have a 3D TV, functional 3D glasses, and a 3D Blu-ray, these carefully crafted visuals play out somewhat muted. (Hence the “3D” part being dropped from its title on streaming platforms, though the colorful title card with the smoke-ring-turned-wreath keeps it intact.) But they’re so well thought out and intentionally filmed that the objects hurtling at the screen nevertheless achieve the bulk of their intended effects.
However, even without the extra coat of fun that the 3D delivers, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas works exceedingly well as a holiday comedy. It features plentiful silly uses of classic Christmas music, perhaps none better than Bing Crosby’s rendition of “White Christmas,” cued to a slow-mo shootout sequence, during which a bag of cocaine takes a bullet and covers the room in an impromptu snowstorm. (Maybe Irving Berlin was writing about blow all along.) And the old-school, Radio City Music Hall-style holiday extravaganza starring our heroes’ old friend Neil Patrick Harris in full song-and-dance mode is so entertaining that it’s achieved “pull it up on YouTube” status.
References to films of Christmas past further round out the movie’s appeal. After unwittingly drinking LSD-spiked eggnog, Harold, Kumar, and their surroundings suddenly turn into claymation — a clever homage to Rankin/Bass holiday specials like Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, albeit with a giant stop-motion penis that somehow doesn’t crack the screen. Speaking of cocks, one of our protagonists eventually finds himself stuck in a hysterical homage to the frozen pole scene from A Christmas Story, whose seemingly disposable reference early on would make Anton Chekhov proud. And if NPH’s account of dying, going to heaven, and getting cockblocked by Jesus himself (Jake Johnson) doesn’t qualify as a Christmas tale, what does?
Considering all the dick jokes, it’s understandable that the Harold and Kumar series isn’t exactly known for its human drama. And yet, this third film intelligently depicts relatable holiday pressures, namely the desire to please one’s in-laws and others who take Christmas perhaps more seriously than is healthy.
Obviously, jokes remain at the forefront, and in this wild and witty environment, even a cameo by a weed-loving Santa Claus (Richard Riehle) — complete with reindeer and sleigh — fits right in, just as A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas fits into any open-minded moviegoers’ holiday viewing plans.
“A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas” is streaming (not in 3D) on Paramount+ and is available for digital rental and purchase.
