Pot smoke, mounds of coke and little, bitty Ecstasy pills. Urine, feces and semen. Topless nuns, stoned kids and a bloody Santa Claus. And of course, a singing and dancing Neil Patrick Harris.
These are among the many things that get thrown at the wall — sometimes literally — in “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas.” Very few of them stick. This third film in the “Harold & Kumar” franchise is inordinately jacked up with visual effects and peppy holiday music, but nothing can disguise the fact that this series has run out of steam, that the film’s stars have outgrown the roles that made them famous.
Even references to the celebrity they’ve achieved outside these movies — that John Cho played Sulu in J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” and Kal Penn worked for President Obama’s administration in the White House Office of Public Engagement — feel too cute. And as is so often the case, they’re just not all that funny. Much of the humor comes from the same tired, repetitive stoner shtick. The main difference is that when someone takes a long hit off a bong (or joint or pipe), the smoke comes wafting toward you from the screen.
