Product Details

• Actors: Kal Penn, John Cho, David Krumholtz, Fred Willard, Luis Guzman
• Directors: Danny Leiner
• Format: Color, Blu-ray
• Language: English
• Region: Region A/1 (Read more about DVD/Blu-ray formats.)
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: New Line Home Video
• DVD Release Date: July 29, 2008
• Run Time: 88 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (299 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001AEF6HC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #63,668 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

From the director of Dude, Where's My Car? comes another crazed tale of two friends on a perilous quest--in this case, to eat burgers at the fast food restaurant White Castle. The pair--repressed Harold (John Cho, Better Luck Tomorrow) and freewheeling Kumar (Kal Penn, Love Don't Cost a Thing)--get extremely high and set off on the road, only to be sidetracked by skateboarding hooligans, racist cops, an inbred tow truck driver, and Neil Patrick Harris--yes, Doogie Howser, M.D. The humor is all over the map, and it would be nice if there were one female character who wasn't a caricature, but Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle has a loose, gregarious charm, and the movie's canniness about the cliches of the buddy-movie genre give it a sneaky subversive feel--just the fact that neither of the heroes is white puts a different spin on just about every circumstance. Surprisingly clever, cheerfully stupid. --Bret Fetzer

Product Description

In the year's funniest comedy, two guys on a quest to satisfy their cravings for burgers find themselves on a hilarious all-night adventure as they run into one screwy obstacle after another.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 88 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Harold and Kumar Rule March 16, 2005

By Agentgary7

Format:DVD

I just got through watching this movie and I have to say that "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" is one of the greatest films ever made. You read that right. There have been other reviews on this site comparing "Harold and Kumar" to Cheech and Chong films, "American Pie", etc. All those people miss the point. Yes, this movie is about young people and, yes, this movie is about stoners, but, strictly speaking, those things are incidental. "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" is a classic and this movie is a classic because this movie "gets it"; it "gets it" like no other movie in the history of filmdom has ever gotten it. From the moment these two brilliant potheads see an advertisment on TV for White Castle they are on a quest, a quest for burgers. They go through a series of escapades involving racist cops, stolen marijuana, jailbreaks, junkyard freaks, Doogie Howser stealing Harold's car and so on and so on, each episode more insane than the last and everything screamingly funny. And through it all they persevere because they're on a quest. You see, "Harold and Kumar" is unique in the history of film because it understands that the point of cruising ... is cruising itself!!!! In what other country in the world can you hop onto an Interstate and then, 45 minutes later, you can buy these cheap little burgers with the little onions on them, 6 for $2.99 plus fries and a soda? Only in America!!! That's what the American Dream is all about: White Castle Burgers!!!! The point of the journey ... is the journey itself. There is so much sage wisdom in this movie: that "the universe has a tendency to balance itself out" (not unlike the Hindu principle of Karmic realignment?...), that what a man wants is that feeling of satisfaction when he gets what he most desires (said by Harold while observing their two Jewish friends fulfilling their own quest at Hot Dog Heaven) or Kumar's observation that their parents came to this country because they were poor and oppressed ... and hungry. I'm not Asian, and I couldn't care less if Harold is Korean and Kumar is Indian; personally, I found Harold and Kumar to be two of the most quintessentially American characters I've ever encountered in a movie. And that's the genius of this film: this movie realizes that being an American isn't about race or ethnicity: being an American is a state of mind. I truly believe "Harold an Kumar Go to White Castle" will go down as one of the classics of cinema. And, no, I was not stoned when I wrote this. Read more ›

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great movie, even better DVD menus April 8, 2005

By Jon M. Lepine

Format:DVD

Although I liked the movie (enough to buy the DVD), I was not expecting the hilarity of the menu screens. In case it hasn't been mentioned much already, there was actually new content filmed for the DVD menus, specifically the Main menu and the Special Features menu. The Main DVD menu, has Harold and Kumar sitting in the car, driving. The sequence appears to repeat every minute or so, but in fact, the first 10 or so sequences are not repeats! They even end up arguing over why the DVD watcher hasn't picked any menu choices yet, and that it's not that hard to do. Very funny stuff, and an excellent addition to the movie.

The second menu, the Special Features menu, has Harold and Kumar in the car after going over the embankment. The car won't start, and Kumar keeps trying it, and trying it, for probably up to 10 minutes or so. All throughout it, he's talking and trying to get Harold to respond. They eventually try to get some sleep, in the car.

All in all, very funny stuff... Enjoy the movie, but don't forget to sit through those two menus! They are one of the most interesting and innovative ideas I've seen on a DVD in some time.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fast Food. High Times. August 4, 2004

By Scott

Every once in awhile, a person becomes witness to a movie with no real point, but rather is driven by its dialogue and the characters within the film. A vast number of these movies fall into the comedy genre, because if a movie is funny, it doesn't require a powerful plot, but it anchors on the humor it expresses. Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle is one of these movies. And, I believe it to be a success at what it attempts. Like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Dazed and Confused, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, this movie will become a modern stoner classic, but I feel it can be enjoyed by a vast number of viewers; this movie was downright funny.

Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle is the hilarious tale about the two title characters Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn). In fact, the entire movie's plot is in the title. These two stoners get the munchies one night, and while debating what to eat, see a television commercial for the one place that seems to hit the spot and satisfy all of their cravings and desires: White Castle. After this, the film is nothing but our hilarious heroes coming across a wild amount of mishaps and numerous funny situations. The film even has a hilarious cameo by Neil Patrick Harris, whom many of us know as Doogie Houser M.D., playing himself all messed up on ecstasy. This movie is a d**n good time.

At first, I was very skeptical about this movie. I mean, it looked funny, but I still wasn't sure. I kind of got the same vibe for this as I did for Dude, Where's My Car?, and that turned out awful. It is strange too, because this movie happened to be directed by the same guy as Dude, Where's My Car?: Danny Leiner. However, this time, Leiner hit the genre on the head, creating a comical success. Maybe it was the R rating.... I recall thinking back to Dude, Where's My Car?, knowing how bad it sucked. Could some of that badness have been erased, had an R rating opened up more possibilities for crude humor? I think the answer to that question is yes, and it is evident in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.

John Cho and Kal Penn carry this movie very well. I had seen John Cho in the American Pie movies before, but I never got around to seeing Van Wilder with Kal Penn. Either way, this is the first starring role movie for both of these guys or I think they did wonders with it. They have great onscreen chemistry and provide some really great dialogue exchanges. The rest of the acting was good too. Neil Patrick Harris was hilarious as himself and there were numerous other good performances, including Anthony Anderson, playing a Burger Shack Employee who delivers a monologue about why Harold and Kumar should go to White Castle.

The soundtrack is also worth noting. A lot of the songs fit well, and I especially enjoyed a sequence where Harold and Kumar just let loose and start singing this soft song from 1991. It really is funny.

Overall, I was very pleased with my experience seeing this picture. Of course, I was with three friends, which always helps the comedic experience. Call me crazy, but if at some parts where you aren't laughing and your friend does, you might catch the humor and join in. So it's a good buddy flick to see. Of course, the plot is thin (if any plot at all), but who needs plot? This is just a movie about two stoners and their misadventures along the way of finding a White Castle. Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle is very simple and very fun. Recommended.

[...] - we take review movies seriously and with an attitude, but not a serious attitude. Read more ›

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Nothing is as it should be, but everything is as it is. August 8, 2004

By Porter B. Hall

It seems like a lot of people are saying this is a comedy about nothing, or that it's just a road movie. It's more than that: It's a really good road movie, it's very funny, and it adds to a tradition that includes both Huckleberry Finn and The Heart of Darkness. It's stinging social commentary.

Harold and Kumar are both upwardly mobile second-generation Americans of immigrant parents. They're fighting against type in a world of stereotypes--Harold struggles not to be the number-loving, quiet asian and Kumar avoids the med-school path of his father and older brother. And yet, that's where they find they have placed themselves. Harold is an investment banker and Kumar is a skilled doctor despite his reluctance to go to medical school. They spend their free time getting high and laughing at antidrug commercials. On weekends they allow themselves to rebel comfortably, but it's clear they are dependent upon the rewards of following society's script--they share a nice apartment, they have other good friends (stereotypes, all), a love interest of color, and they travel in a new car toward their ultimate goal of eating several tiny hamburgers.

But when they leave the safety of their multicultural civic center and venture into the hinterlands of the American countryside, they fully begin their odyssey through the strata of the American class pyramid. Above them are the wealthy gatekeepers, like Harold's bullying preppy co-workers and Kumar's med school admissions dean. Below them are the embittered whites who feel like they are losing opportunities one after another, and further below are the imigrants and blacks who must suffer daily at the hands of this anger.

The comedy comes from the clashing of stereotypes, in how they are all simultaneously true and false.... The "extreme" mountain dew guys who are sold as he-men with surplus bravado are outed here as being also nihilistic zombie bullies. NPH turns out to be a self-absorbed, self-destructive star on his way to supernova. The horribly disfigured rural white "Freakshow" turns out not to be a psychotic sex killer but rather just a garden-variety pervert (and their modern take on the old traveling salesman joke pushes against the heartland's rep as the home of family values). The one-note cops, however, only get to sell the white anger.

What's most interesting about the movie is how H&K react to the plight of blacks and immigrants. They recognize their lower-class dopplegangers walking together down a dark sidewalk and watch passively as those stand-ins get jumped and beaten to a pulp. The scene is played for a laugh (and laughing is appropriate in a comedy), but it's also the first defining moment in their journey. Do they call the police? An ambulance? Stop the car and help the poor guys? No. They drive on.

There are plenty of run-ins. They're witness to the extreme dudes ruining the immigrant's store, and they're powerless to stop it. They're not from here, you see, they're just stopping for gas, they can't get involved, they can't help. Sorry. They can't upset the order that rewards them so well. Likewise, the extreme dudes let them pass because hurting them would in and of itself upset that same order and rouse Johnny Law. The immigrant owner pleads to Harold and Kumar with his eyes, but it's as if the extreme leader tells them straight on: Look, you're powerless to stop this and so am I. Basically, "Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown" or if you'd rather, it's the Matrix.

When Harold gets to jail, we meet a black buddah who has come to enlightenment as much through book-learning as from night-stick blows. Incredibly, he tells them they can't change the world and that they should essentially turn the other cheek. And when the prisoner is again abused in their presence, they gladly accept the advice of another black prisoner. "If I were you," he tells them, "I would get the hell out of here." He might as well have said, "If I were of your class, I would get the hell out of here."

And they do. They realize, and become grateful for, their status in society, they 'live and let live', and they trust that their universe--the deus ex machina of this story--will resolve things comically before the credits. By supporting the system, they are amply rewarded.

Near the climax, Kumar delivers a patriotic speech that salutes America not as the land of opportunity, but of consumer choice--the last tangible measure of our collective freedom (much as a 'social safety net' and 'access to health care' used to be). The boys make it to White Castle, and there they gorge themselves in a commercial ritual of assimilation. In an absurd gesture of quantity over quality, manufacturing over cooking, flavor over nutrition, and form over function, they each eat dozens of tiny hamburger "sliders" as they slide further into the melting pot.

It's hard to divine a moral to this story beyond, "Nothing is as it should be, but everything is as it is." I can believe that Hollywood would create and disseminate that message, but this movie was conspicuously too smart and too countercultural to deliver that GOP payload. I've been thinking about it for days and I just can't figure it out. Read more ›