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13 articles from 2008

25 July 2008 10:10 PM, PDT | From screeninglog.com | See recent screeninglog news

Harold Lee and Kumar Patel are not ready to call it quits quite yet. According to Variety, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg will return to write and direct a third installment in the series starring John Cho and Kal Penn.

Although no details about the sequel’s plot have been released yet, the story line will likely follow the two stoners as they get in plenty of trouble in Amsterdam. Cho and Penn are expected to return as the titular characters.

“Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” opened in 2004 and took home $18.2 million at the box office. This year’s follow-up “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” collected $38 million domestically.

The film will be produced by Mandate Pictures, which also worked on “Juno” and the upcoming Michael Cera romance “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.”

I can’t say I’m excited about this because I pretty much hated “Guantanamo Bay,

Franck Tabouring

25 July 2008 12:08 PM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Comedy duo Harold + Kumar are returning for a third movie, after this year's sequel proved a box office hit.

Harold + Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay made nearly $40 million (GBP20 million) at the box office, off a budget of just $12 million (GBP6 million) - prompting film bosses to quickly commission a second sequel.

Actors John Cho and Kal Penn will reprise their roles as the marijuana-loving protagonists in the new movie.

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25 July 2008 4:06 AM, PDT | From Digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news

A third movie in the Harold and Kumar comedy franchise is being planned by Mandate Pictures. The follow-up to this year's Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay will be written by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. Greg Shaprio is signed up to produce, while stars John Cho and Kal Penn are also expected to return, according to Variety. Mandate president Nathan (more)

By Alex Fletcher

25 July 2008 2:08 AM, PDT | From Rope Of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news

I am yet to see a single Harold and Kumar film, but I was sent the Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay Blu-ray so that is sure to end soon, but I am not sure if I want to watch it before seeing the much higher praised Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. And now that Variety reports they are making a third film I really better get my ass in gear. Word is Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who penned the first two films, will return to write and direct a third installment for Mandate Pictures. The storyline is being kept quiet, but even though I haven't seen the films it isn't hard to guess what the gist of the story is going to be as, stars John Cho and Kal Penn are expected to reprise their roles as the ganja-loving duo as both have options in their contracts for the third installment.

Brad Brevet

16 June 2008 5:11 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson has denied reports she is supporting presidential candidate Barack Obama because she has "a crush" on him.

The 23-year-old star has long voiced her support for Obama in his race for the White House in the upcoming U.S. elections - but Johansson was recently accused of favouring the politician because of his good looks and not focusing on his policies.

But a source tells the New York Daily News that the rumours are just not true: "She is a surrogate (Obama campaigner). They're not exchanging love letters. Everyone seems to be forgetting that she's engaged.

"Kal Penn (actor and Obama supporter) is also a surrogate, and no one says he has a crush on Obama."

Johansson is currently engaged to Blade: Trinity actor Ryan Reynolds.

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25 April 2008 10:35 AM, PDT | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

The stoner characters Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn), having left White Castle, now escape from Guantánamo Bay, but many critics suggest that whatever political punch the movie might have landed is weakened by a sophomoric, over-the-top script. Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News puts it this way: "The occasionally snicker-worthy Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantánamo Bay provides some of what fans want from its stoner heroes, but given the high-concept title, it's a big fat missed opportunity." Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune says that through most of the film, "you find yourself smiling at some of the bits, wincing through many, many others." Several critics suggest that the expected political payoff never comes off. "The movie goes after easy targets and goes soft on the harder issues," complains Wesley Morris in the Boston Globe. On the other hand, Liam Lacey in the Toronto Globe and Mail concludes: "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantánamo Bay is no political tract, but it can be surprisingly bold. (Did we actually see a Homeland Security official wipe his backside with a page from the Bill of Rights?) The main satiric point is indirect: Harold and Kumar are so obviously harmless, self-involved American dudes, the authorities' overreaction seems contemptible. In fact, Cho and Penn may do too good a job. They're so likable that you really wish they could find a better-scripted movie that cut back on the lazy scatology, sex and dope jokes."

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25 April 2008 5:21 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Actor Kal Penn often lets fans down when they realise he isn't the "stoner" he portrays on the big screen.

The Asian-American star of the Harold + Kumar films is often high onscreen, but he insists he has never so much as smoked a joint in real-life.

Penn says, "It's sad for the people who offer me a joint because I don't smoke weed in real life. I was also a vegetarian when we shot the first movie (Harold + Kumar Go To White Castle) - and that was about burgers.

"I don't go out of my way to tell people I was a vegetarian or that I don't smoke weed, because I don't want them to be disappointed.

"If you want to keep the suspension of disbelief that's Ok, but then sometimes it's weird."

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24 April 2008 6:25 PM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Asian-American movie star Kal Penn refuses to act under his birth name Kalpen Modi - because he fears film roles would be limited to his ethnicity.

The Namesake star is convinced he wouldn't have had the opportunities he has enjoyed if he'd stubbornly stuck with his Indian name.

He says, "There were a couple of friends who said, 'If you use Kalpen Modi on your resume, you'll probably be more limited to roles.

"Whether it's less letters or a neutral sounding name, am I trying to sound less ethnic? Yeah. But I didn't want to come up with a completely separate name that has nothing to do with my own.

"So I just took my first name and split it in half."

And by doing so, Penn struck it lucky: "My parents' friends said that in ancient Hindu numerology the sequence of three letters and seven letters all together, with that combination, is considered very lucky."

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24 April 2008 2:27 PM, PDT | From avclub.com | See recent The AV Club news

Stoner comedies have the major built-in advantage of playing to an audience that's herbally inclined to laugh at anything, but that knowledge can breed laziness, because there's little motivation for sharpening the jokes. Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle and its equally winning sequel, Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, don't seem to have anyone manning the quality-control department: Some gags are inspired in their extreme crudeness and toked-up surrealism, and others are simply lazy and base, targeted at the sniggering 14-year-old boys who snuck into the back row of the theater. Yet the bad stretches in both movies are more easily forgiven and forgotten than they would be in other comedies, because John Cho's Harold and Kal Penn's Kumar make such amiable company. Their shambling, seat-of-the-pants misadventures are written like a pot-addled free-association game, and it's fun to go along for the ride. Kicking off the...

Scott Tobias

22 April 2008 5:04 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Actor Kal Penn teaches Asian-American studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Namesake star is a resident professor at the university and admits his first classes were a big hit - until students realised how early it was.

He tells Mtv news, "It's a Monday, early morning class and there's a lot of reading and papers, so a lot of people dropped the class."

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21 April 2008 8:31 AM, PDT | From ifc.com | See recent IFC news

By Neil Pedley

While we pace the carpet back and forth in anticipation of the fast-approaching Tribeca Film Festival (kicking off on Wednesday), we can bide our time with a puppet kidnapping, some Bollywood royalty and an Ewan McGregor sighting.

"Baby Mama"

If the fad of pregnancy movies began with last year's "Knocked Up," it reaches its second trimester with "Baby Mama," which stars comedy goddess Tina Fey as a wannabe mom who's fast approaching 40 and Fey's one-time Weekend Update deskmate Amy Poehler as the uncouth oddball who offers up the use of her womb in exchange for a bit of cash. Appropriately enough, former "SNL" scribe Michael McCullers makes his directorial debut with the offbeat comedy, which could serve as "Juno" for people deemed too fuddy-duddy to find the term "home skillet" amusing. "Baby Mama"'s also serving as Tribeca's opening night film.

Opens wide.

"Deal"

Gil Cates Jr.

Neil Pedley

18 April 2008 10:37 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama has been given another major celebrity boost - Hollywood's leading Indian-American actor is campaigning for him.

Van Wilder and The Namesake star Kal Penn has joined the likes of Will.i.am, Jessica Alba, Oprah Winfrey, Bruce Springsteen and Will Smith in offering his support to the Democrat.

Penn, who has been quietly campaigning for Obama at colleges and high schools all over America, says, "I'm not a registered Democrat, and I've never gotten motivated before, mostly because I wasn't a fan of the political establishment.

"But I was really inspired by Barack. I haven't been that inspired since hearing my grandparents tell stories about marching with Gandhi."

And the actor is prepared to back Barack all the way to the White House: "I'm with the campaign until the man has a new address on Pennsylvania Avenue (Washington, D.C.)

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9 March 2008 5:54 AM, PDT | From ifc.com | See recent IFC news

By Stephen Saito

With 4/20 only a little more than a month away, Sxsw kicked off an all-encompassing celebration of marijuana on Friday with the regional premiere of the Doug Benson doc "Super High Me" at the Paramount Theatre, shortly before other comedies about the herb made their premieres (officially: "Humboldt County"; unofficially: Jonathan Levine's Sundance hit "The Wackness," which played Saturday night as a secret screening). Part concert film culled from "Best Week Ever" regular Benson's stand-up act and part social documentary about the ongoing battle in California between the feds and the newly created legalized "dispensaries," which have been empowered by state law to sell medical marijuana, "Super High Me" sets its sights on being entertaining and informative and manages to do a little of both.

As Benson proves, it's not difficult to procure a doctor's note, and the film follows him as he detoxifies for 30 days from

Stephen Saito

13 articles from 2008