Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, also known as Harold & Kumar Get the Munchies in the UK, is a 2004 American stoner comedy film and the first installment of the Harold & Kumar series. The film was written by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, and directed by Danny Leiner.

The story follows Harold Lee (John Cho) and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn) as they decide to go to the fast food chain White Castle after smoking marijuana, but end up on a series of comical misadventures along the way.

The film also features Fred Willard, Paula Garcés, Anthony Anderson, Dan Bochart, Ethan Embry, Jamie Kennedy, Bobby Lee, Christopher Meloni, Ryan Reynolds, Shaun Majumder, David Krumholtz, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Malin Åkerman, and Neil Patrick Harris, who plays a fictionalized version of himself.

Plot
Investment banker cubicle worker Harold Lee is persuaded by his colleagues to do their work while they leave for the weekend. Meanwhile, Kumar Patel attends a medical school interview, but intentionally botches it to prevent getting accepted. Harold is attracted to his neighbor, Maria, but is unable to admit his feelings. After smoking marijuana with Kumar, and seeing an advertisement for White Castle, the pair decide to get hamburgers to satisfy their hunger. After traveling to the nearest White Castle in New Brunswick, they find it replaced by "Burger Shack" but learn of another White Castle in Cherry Hill.

Kumar suggests stopping at Princeton University to buy more marijuana. Kumar buys marijuana from one of the students and they are discovered by campus security and forced to flee, losing their marijuana after it falls in the toilet. Harold and Kumar resume their drive, and when Kumar pulls over to urinate, a raccoon gets in the car and bites Harold. Kumar takes Harold to a hospital where Kumar's father and older brother work. Kumar's father is disappointed in him how he messed up med school interview and there is another one tomorrow and if he messes up his admission he will be cut off financially. Kumar apologizes to his father and promises to take the next interview seriously. Kumar steals ID badges to obtain medical marijuana, but after being mistaken for his brother, Kumar is forced to perform surgery on a gunshot victim; after the surgery the patient tells them how to reach White Castle.

Kumar spots Maria at a movie theater and decides to get her attention so Harold can talk to her, but Harold panics and crashes the car. They are rescued by Freakshow, a tow-truck driver, who takes them to his house to repair their car. Harold and Kumar are propositioned by Freakshow's surprisingly alluring wife, but after Freakshow suggests a foursome, Harold and Kumar flee in disgust. Kumar picks up a hitchhiker, Neil Patrick Harris, who is high on ecstasy. Harold and Kumar go into a convenience store to get directions and Harris drives away in their car. The duo are then harassed by a racist police officer for jaywalking. Harold attempts to punch Kumar for antagonizing the officer, but ends up punching the officer instead, resulting in his arrest.

Kumar fakes a 911 call to distract the police and breaks into the station to free Harold. After Harold and Kumar flee, they encounter an escaped cheetah. After smoking marijuana with it, they decide to ride it to White Castle. However, Harold goes unconscious after hitting his head on a branch, destroying his laptop containing all the work that he just completed for his coworkers. Harold and a reluctant Kumar decide to not continue on their trek, but after encountering a group of extreme sports punks who have been harassing the pair, the duo change their mind and steal their truck. A police officer spots the speeding truck and chases them. They are trapped when they reach the edge of a cliff. Spotting the White Castle below, Harold and Kumar use a hang glider from the truck to reach their destination. The pair place their orders but are disheartened to find they have no money. Harris suddenly appears, having craved the food when hearing them talk about it and pays for their meal as an apology for stealing their car; he also further pays for "repairs."

Kumar realizes he wants to be a doctor, but is afraid of conforming to the stereotype of Indians becoming doctors. Harold then notices his co-workers pull up with two women and gets angry at them because they said they had to work with clients but were actually out partying. He tells them off and threatens to get them fired and humiliated if it happens again. After returning to their apartment they encounter Maria, Harold professes his feelings for her and they kiss. She informs Harold that she is leaving for Amsterdam but will return in ten days. Kumar convinces Harold to go with him to Amsterdam to pursue Maria, reminding him that marijuana is legal in the Netherlands.

Cast

 * John Cho as Harold Lee, a second-generation Korean-American man working at his first job in investment banking.
 * Kal Penn as Kumar Patel, a second generation Indian-American whose family thinks that he will become a doctor like his father and brother.
 * Paula Garcés as Maria Perez, Harold and Kumar's neighbor, on whom Harold has a crush.
 * Neil Patrick Harris as a fictionalized version of himself.
 * Ryan Reynolds as an OR nurse
 * David Krumholtz as Goldstein, Harold and Kumar's neighbor and Rosenberg's roommate
 * Eddie Kaye Thomas as Rosenberg, Harold and Kumar's neighbor and Goldstein's roommate
 * Brooke D'Orsay as Clarissa, twin sister student at Princeton University who agreed to smoke weed with Kumar
 * Kate Kelton as Chrissy, twin sister student at Princeton University who agreed to smoke weed with Kumar
 * Steve Braun as Cole, the leader of a reoccurring gang of five obnoxious extreme-sports-obsessed delinquents who often harass the pair or others around them.
 * Christopher Meloni as Randy/Freakshow, a car mechanic with infected pimples on his face and neck who fixed Harold and Kumar's car
 * Sandy Jobin Bevans as Officer Palumbo, a police officer who bullies Harold and Kumar.
 * Fred Willard as Dr. Willoughby, medical school dean who interviewed Kumar
 * Robert Tinkler as J.D.
 * Anthony Anderson as the Burger Shack Employee
 * Siu Ta as Cindy Kim, student at Princeton University who has a crush on Harold
 * Malin Åkerman as Liane, Freakshow's wife
 * Dov Tiefenbach as Bradley Thomas, student at Princeton University who sold weed to Kumar
 * Gary Anthony Williams as Tarik Jackson, a philosophical black man who has been arrested for being black
 * Boyd Banks as E.R. Patient
 * Gary Archibald as Nathaniel Brooks
 * Craig Stevens as Ralph
 * Jamie Kennedy as Creepy Guy (uncredited)
 * Ethan Embry as Billy Carver

Production
While living in Los Angeles, screenwriters Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg decided to write a low-budget stoner film and base the main characters on their high school friends from Randolph High School. They based the character of Harold on their real-life friend Harold Lee. Hurwitz got the idea to base the film around White Castle from his own experience craving White Castle burgers when he lived in Pennsylvania for several years. At the time, Pennsylvania did not have any White Castle locations and Hurwitz had to have family members bring him frozen White Castle burgers from New Jersey.

The filmmakers received permission from White Castle in 2002 to use the chain's name in the film. One scene that depicted a White Castle being closed was changed at the request of the company's director of marketing. The film was also supposed to feature a hunt for Krispy Kreme donuts, but the food was changed to hotdogs when Krispy Kreme refused to allow the film to use their name.

Casting
Hurwitz and Schlossberg included a role for Neil Patrick Harris as himself in the script without asking him first. Harris liked the script and agreed to appear in the film. During casting, both Kal Penn and actor Sendhil Ramamurthy were being considered for the role of Kumar. After auditioning seven times, Penn eventually won the part.

Filming
Harold & Kumar began filming on May 12, 2003. The film is set in New Jersey, but was mainly filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Scenes set at Princeton University were actually filmed at the University of Toronto's Victoria College and Knox College. The production design team had to build a White Castle franchise especially for the shoot since Canada does not have White Castle restaurants. During filming, Penn ate veggie burgers as he is a vegetarian.

Soundtrack
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle: Original Soundtrack was released on July 27, 2004. It contains 16 songs from the film.


 * Track list
 * 1) "Chick Magnet" – MxPx
 * 2) "One Good Spliff" – Ziggy Marley / The Melody Makers
 * 3) "Yeah (Dream of Me)" – All Too Much
 * 4) "Righteous Dub" – Long Beach Dub All Stars
 * 5) "Skunk One" – Kottonmouth Kings
 * 6) "Same Old Song" – Phunk Junkeez
 * 7) "White Castle Blues" – The Smithereens
 * 8) "Crazy On You" – Heart
 * 9) "Cameltoe" – Fannypack
 * 10) "Kinda High, Kinda Drunk" – Coolio
 * 11) "Mary Jane" – Rick James
 * 12) "I Wanna Get Next to You" – Rose Royce
 * 13) "Hold On" – Wilson Phillips
 * 14) "Ridin'" – Classic & 86
 * 15) "Arrival at White Castle" – Heiruspecs
 * 16) "Total Eclipse of the Heart" – Nicki French

Songs that are in the film but do not appear on the soundtrack include:
 * 1) "Also Sprach Zarathustra" – David Kitay
 * 2) "Baby Baby" – Amy Grant
 * 3) "Ballin' Boy" – No Good
 * 4) "Click Click Pow" – Lexicon (real song title is "The Official")
 * 5) "Warrior Dance" – Zion I feat. Pep Love
 * 6) "Fall In Line" – Phunk Junkeez
 * 7) "Faraway" – Dara Schindler
 * 8) "Gangsta Gangsta" – J. O'Neal / D. Black
 * 9) "Girl From Ypsilanti" – Daniel May
 * 10) "Let's Get Retarded" – Black Eyed Peas (this song is the unedited version of their "Let's Get It Started" hit)
 * 11) "Looney" – Moonshine Bandits
 * 12) "Mariachi Speier" – Eric Speier
 * 13) "On the Ganges" – Matt Hirt
 * 14) "Rock to the Rhythm" – Lexicon (actual song name is "Rock")
 * 15) "Rock Your Body 2004" – Stagga Lee
 * 16) "Ooh Wee" – Mark Ronson

Marketing
In the 11 days before the film's release, New Line Cinema turned a parking lot on Sunset Strip into a temporary White Castle. The restaurant served 40,000 burgers to patrons, including Quentin Tarantino, Farah Fawcett and Jay Leno.

White Castle launched several promotions in tandem with the film's release. The restaurant chain featured beverage cups with pictures of Harold and Kumar. They also provided free hamburgers to moviegoers attending the film's premiere. Cho and Penn were inducted into the company's White Castle Cravers Hall of Fame in 2004.

Box office
In its opening weekend, the film grossed $5,480,378 in 2,135 theatres in the United States and Canada. In total it had a worldwide gross of $23,936,908.

Critical reception
The film was positively received by critics, with a 74% rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 147 reviews; the consensus states, "The likable leads and subversion of racial stereotypes elevate Harold and Kumar above the typical stoner comedy."

Film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film 3 out of 4 stars and wrote "One secret of fiction is the creation of unique characters who are precisely defined. The secret of comedy is the same, with the difference being that the characters must be obsessed with unwholesome but understandable human desires."

Home media
The "Extreme Unrated" edition of the DVD was released on January 4, 2005. It includes special features like a mockumentary, "The Art of the Fart," "The Backseat Interview," an interview with Cho and Penn, and a making-of featurette about the Land of Burgers animated segment. The DVD also features two commentaries: one by writers Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg and one by actor Dan Bochart in character as Extreme Sports Punk #1. The film was re-released on DVD in 2007 and a remastered edition was released in 2008. The film was released on Blu-ray on November 13, 2012.

As of August 17, 2008, the film had 2,878,770 DVD sales in the United States, grossing $30,609,751.

Sequels
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay is the 2008 sequel to White Castle. The movie revolves around Harold and Kumar trying to get to Amsterdam to find Maria, but when the two are mistaken for terrorists on the plane, they are sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

Both Hurwitz and Schlossberg announced plans to write a third Harold and Kumar film, with Greg Shapiro returning as producer, and Kal Penn and John Cho returning in their title roles, while Todd Strauss-Schulson directed the film. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, was released on November 4, 2011 in 2D and 3D.