The Correct Order To Watch The Harold & Kumar Movies

Making a hit comedy movie — let alone a hit comedy franchise — can be a bit of a daunting prospect. It’s not too hard to make a film full of cheap laughs that land immediately but don’t linger, as evident by the glut of pleasant but forgettable comedy films that exist out there. It’s a little harder to make something ambitious and ahead of its time though, especially when the sting of initial failure hurts enough to make the decades-later reappraisal a long wait. The most key form of comedy movie alchemy is making a film which is extremely of its time yet continues to not just retain but gain devoted fans for years afterward, enough so that the gags that are dated don’t grate too much, allowing for the more timeless material to shine through.

That pretty much describes “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” to a T. In a lot of ways, the film perfectly encapsulates a number of trends in comedy movies and pop culture that were happening when it was released in 2004: gross-out humor (witness the, ahem, “Battles**ts” scene), gratuitous nudity (including an “Extreme Unrated” cut on the DVD release), a general “X-treme” vibe (which the film both pokes fun at and indulges in), and the inclusion of millennial stoner culture, with the film’s director, Danny Leiner, having just come off of “Dude, Where’s My Car?” Yet writers/creators Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg not only knew they were continuing a long-held comedy tradition with their titular slacker characters — one reaching back to the films of Kevin Smith and Cheech & Chong — but realized that making their heroes Asian-American provided opportunities for the first “Harold & Kumar” movie to incorporate clever social commentary in ways both subtle and in your face.

Despite a cadre of spin-offs and side projects regarding “Harold & Kumar” having been pitched and put into development, the franchise only currently encapsulates three films, with the possibility of “Harold & Kumar 4” still hanging tantalizingly in the air, like a White Castle location you just can’t find. Although the correct order to watch these films is fairly simple, the holiday season may have you deciding to switch things up if you’ve got a serious Christmas cheer craving.

Of course, the general rule of thumb for any watch order is to watch the films in their release order — remember, even things like prequels and reboots and remakes assume a viewer’s working knowledge of the material, and while you don’t always need to have seen everything beforehand, it almost always enriches your experience if you do. In the case of the “Harold & Kumar” films, watching them in order is highly recommended for other reasons. The saga of buddies Harold Lee (John Cho) and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn) takes them through times thick and thin, from White Castle to Guantanamo Bay to a face-to-face with Kris Kringle himself. In other words, the films are a fully-fledged franchise, with each sequel beginning where the last left off, continuing character arcs and even running gags that are best enjoyed in order. So, your best bet to watch the movies the right way is:

•”Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” (2004)

•”Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” (2008)

•”A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas” (2011)

Sure, the mythology of these films isn’t exactly super dense, but it’s not about keeping up with intricate lore or big twists and turns. Rather, the pleasure of following the progressive storyline lies in the way Harold and Kumar themselves grow and change, in how their relationships with their significant others develop, and in how Neil Patrick Harris (playing a twisted version of himself) gets disturbingly creepier while becoming fourth-wall-breaking omniscient.

All that said, however, the only reason you may want to eschew watching the films in order is if it happens to be the holiday season and you’re on a Christmas movie binge. Of course, if you’ve already watched the entire “Harold & Kumar” trilogy before, then there’s no reason why you can’t skip to “A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas” while you’re baking (Christmas cookies or otherwise). If this is a first time watch, though, you’ll have to weigh your decision by knowing there’ll be a little confusion as to why Harold and Kumar are effectively broken up as friends at the beginning of the film, who their partners are, why Neil Patrick Harris even knows them, and so on. (There’s a bit more confusion regarding Neil’s story of how he survived the apparently fatal events of “Guantanamo Bay,” but the film does provide some flashback material to help fill in those gaps.)

Ultimately, of course, it’s up to you whether your desire for a hilariously naughty holiday movie overcomes your interest in watching the films properly, and I’m not here to tell you to ignore your cravings; that would be against everything Harold and Kumar represent! Even though watching the films in their release order is the most rewarding experience, choosing any order to watch these isn’t going to ruin them completely for you or anyone else. As I said earlier, comedy movies that endure are rare, comedy trilogies even more so. So, the fact that anyone wants to watch or re-watch the “Harold & Kumar” trilogy is a testament to their quality. My only real advice for watching these films is to grab some sliders, keep clear of Homeland Security, and deck the halls with boughs of “holly.”