Harold & Kumar franchise falls flat

Even Neil Patrick Harris couldn't save the disaster that was A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas. The third installment of the Harold and Kumar series takes place six years after the second film in the series, Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay ends. Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) are now estranged, with Harold having become a successful businessman on Wall Street while Kumar lazes around at home, smoking weed and bumming around. They are reunited when Kumar receives a package meant for Harold, and he travels to Harold's to deliver it.

Said package turns out to be a joint, and following an argument between the former best friends, the joint destroys the Christmas tree that Harold's intimidating father-in-law has cultivated.

The rest of the film involves Harold and Kumar getting kidnapped by Ukrainian gangsters, playing beer pong and of course, running into Neil Patrick Harris in an attempt to find the perfect tree before the night is up.

This movie weakly attempts to teach the joys of maturity and the power of friendship, but in this genre of movie, such lessons just seem silly and contrived. A friendship built around smoking weed is not exactly a solid foundation for a long-lasting friendship, and Kumar especially just seems like a sad, sad man, having dropped out of med school because he failed a drug test.

Unless this movie wants to teach its viewers that a productive life is one where you run around New York City smoking weed and getting high, there is no lesson that could possibly gleamed from watching this Christmas movie.

This franchise would have been better off if they had stopped at two films. Too often, a series tries to capitalize on its success and falls flat on its face. This is definitely one of those instances.

No longer is this a charming movie about two friends on a quest for burgers. Instead, the audience probably felt like Harold and Kumar did in the movie when they accidentally inhaled coke and thought that a giant evil snowman was attacking them — like they were seeing some horrible parody of something that used to appeal to them.