'White Castle' a 'stoner comedy' worth watching
Likable characters and
familiar humor combine
for a fun summer flick
RYAN NYBURG
PULSE EDITOR
"Harold & Kumar Go to White
Castle," is not that good of a movie.
Of course, this hardly detracts from
its overall value. It is a mindlessly in
ventive stoner comedy that never
makes any claims to being any more
than passably clever. 'Hie whole affair
seems to have one purpose, which is
to entertain people during the hot
summer months. When it gets hot
enough, some people will see any
thing just to spend a few hours in an
air-conditioned
- theater. These
MOVIE E,ea^
REVIEW market.
The film stars
John Cho and
Kal Penn as the straight-laced ac
countant Harold and the slacker
would-be medical student Kumar.
The two are suffering from post-colle
giate arrested development. Harold is
stuck in a job he hates with people
who take advantage of his meekness.
Kumar does nothing but tell his father
that he really will go to medical
school this time, so that his dad will
keep paying the rent on the apartment
he shares with Harold.
The film begins with a standard
road-movie opening, as two white
coworkers of Harold, one a party an
imal and one not, discuss their
weekend plans. They dump their
work on Harold in order to spend
the weekend at nightclubs and then
drive off to the sound of peppy,
Aaron Sullivan Illustrator
John Cho and Kal Penn star in the comedy, 'Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,’ currently playing at Cinemark 17.
modern pop music. Everything
about the film sets it up to look like
these are going to be the main char
acters in another cookie-cutter bud
dy movie, but then the camera pans
back to the office, where Harold
looks over his ruined weekend. It's
as if the film decided it didn't like its
main characters and decided to go
off and follow a stereotype (the
Asian Accountant) to see what his
life is like.
Kumar persuades him to get
stoned (while watching a hilarious
take on anti-marijuana advertise
ments) and with a severe case of the
munchies they head off to find a
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White Castle burger joint (for you
other West-Coast yokels, White Cas
tle serves a miniature burger called
the "slider," which does to your ar
teries what mudslides do to high
ways). They spend the rest of the
night traveling across the land, expe
riencing a variety of mishaps and ad
ventures, until they finally reach
their destination, have epiphanies
about their lives and end up as bet
ter people. There. End of film.
But the plot is simply a clothes
line on which to hang a variety of
oddball occurrences, mixing a
wholesome collection of toilet hu
mor, celebrity cameos, absurd
dialog, cultural stereotypes and all
the other facets of modern American
comedy. Other than the nationality
of the two leads, both of whom are
very engaging in their roles, not
much separates this from any other
standard-issue comedy. Other than
its quality, that is.
The film is, actually, surprisingly
funny. The leads are so good-na
tured that you actually care whether
they get to White Castle or not. Their
stoner nature is enduring and the
way they confront the stereotypes
thrown at them is original without
being preachy. When Harold is pre
sented with an East Asian club who
NYBURG
continued from page 7
a wounded beast. This track's com
panion piece, "Dreams Recurring,"
is a minute and a half of this played
backwards. It actually sounds more
tuneful. Must be played loud in or
der to understand its glory.
Glenn Branca, "Symphony #3
(Gloria)." A bizarre tone experiment
from this New York City composer
that is a haunting piece of work.
Played with monotonous, grinding
repetition on nothing but electric
string instruments and some occa
sional percussion, it's an odd, mov
ing piece of trance work that drills it
self into you. The short third
movement is the most melodic,
sounding like classical music played
by ghosts.
Negativland, "Christianity is Stu
pid." The most controversial track
on the excellent "Escape From
Noise" album. The band members
once claimed the song caused a kid
to commit mass murder, then
laughed their asses off at the
subsequent media frenzy, which re
sulted when news outlets started
quoting each other rather than
checking out the facts for them
selves. Aside from the controversy,
the song is some of the band's best
work, featuring a spliced-up sound
bite put to creepy, plodding guitar
noise. A good example of how
sound bites can be made to say just
about anything if edited properly.
Can, "Soup." The longest track on
the German group's "Ege Bamyasi"
album. It starts off as a groovy piece
of jazz rock, but slowly and subtly
grows more abrasive until it finally
drops its rhythm altogether and be
comes a twisted experiment in elec
tronic noise manipulation. The
harsh and unforgiving nature of the
music would drive most away, but
everything is pulled back together in
the next track, the almost funky "I'm
So Green." The whole album still
sounds as though it could have come
out last year, even though it was re
leased in 1972. Brilliant.
ryannYburg@dailyemerald.com
DYNAMITE
continued from page 9
online with babes all day. Besides,
we both know that I'm training to be
a cage fighter."
But it's the loopy confidence
of Napoleon Dynamite (incidentally,
an Elvis Costello pseudonym from
his 1986 album "Blood and Choco
late") that drives the plot and coaxes
the most laughs. Some of the film's
shiniest moments are when
Napoleon, an avid fantasy fan and
(unspeakably) amateur artist, casual
ly lets the unreal slip into the
everyday. When drawing a liger, he
explains to potential dork-love inter
est Deb (Tina Majorino of "Water
world"), "It's pretty much my favorite
animal. It's like a lion and a tiger
mixed ... bred for its skills in magic."
The film's plot is tenuous and sec
ondary and the tangles of character
development are enthralling enough
that the slapdash 30-second conclu
sions to the several subplots are large
ly unsatisfying. But viewers will likely
(and should) forgive this point, and
given the film's sheer quotability, they
might just forget it.
traviswillse@dailyemerald.com
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!EGON
wants to hear that being a junior an
alyst is as good as they expect it to
be, he blanches and politely lies to
them. Kumar is faced with the
dilemma of being expected to be
come a doctor, while simultaneous
ly being good at it. Having to bal
ance the need to rebel from his
father and the fact that he actually
wants to do what is expected of him
is an interesting conundrum.
What pulls the movie to its con
clusion is the likable nature of the
two leads. They are much better ac
tors than any low-brow comedy de
serves, and they work well together,
often pulling of some of the most
ridiculous dialog imaginable with
out flicking an eye. The situations
thrown at them have the ring of
sketch comedy, as things happen
without explanation and are never
referred to again. In one scene, Ku
mar gets out to pee behind a bush in
an isolated, wooded area. He is
joined by a man in a business suit
who uses the same bush for the
same reason. You know how awk
ward some men get when they have
to stand next to each other while us
ing urinals? Yeah, worse than that.
The man's presence is inexplicable,
and it feels like the scriptwriters
threw it in on a lark.
The humor is Stoner humor, plain
and simple. It's Cheech and Chong
for a younger crowd, and like those
two toking societal rejects, it's a
good time when it works, passable
when it doesn't. The film doesn't ask
much of its audience, and any audi
ence shouldn't expect much of the
film. All in all, it's a good time and a
pleasant diversion during the dull
summer months.
ryannyburg@dailyemerald.com
EVETT
continued from page 9
nickname from his Fernandes Fret
less Native Pro guitar, which he has
had outfitted with a mirrored glass
fingerboard of his own design. He
has recently released a solo album,
"I Stole," on Empty Beach Records.
Cafe Paradiso is located at 115
West Broadway. Singer/song
writer Janet Robin will open the
show at 8 p.m. Evett's perform
ance will begin at 9 p.m. There is
an $8 cover charge.
figures in millions.
Rank • Film • Weekend gross
Gross »o dale ♦ Weeks in release * Screens
$50.7 • One week *3,730
2. The Bourne Supremacy $24.2
$98.8 • Two weeks • 3,180
3. Manchurian Candidate $20.0
$20.0 • One week • 2,867
4.1, Robot $10.4
$115.0 • Three weeks * 3,204
5. Spider-Man 2 $8.6
$344.4 • Five weeks • 3,001
6. Catwoman $6.4
$29.8 * Two weeks* 3,117
7. Harold & Kumar Go
to White Castle $5.5
$5.5 • One week • 2,135
8. A Cinderella Story $4.9
$40.3 • Three weeks • 2,350
9. Anchorman: The Legend
of Ron Burgundy $3.1
$78.2 ♦Four weeks* 2,032
10. Fahrenheit 9/11 $3.1
$109.4 » Six weeks *1,217
— Ryan Nyburg
U.S. movie revenues for
July 30 Aug. 1. All dollar
1. The Village
$50.7
S0l/RC€: Exhibitor Relations Co.
AP