'Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle'

The first installment of the Harold and Kumar series follows the exploits of our two pothead heroes — Indian-American Kumar Patel and Korean-American Harold Lee — as they go on a search for White Castle hamburgers to satisfy their munchies and continue their everlasting hunt for more marijuana. Incidentally, on the way to White Castle they decide to take a detour into Princeton, where Kumar insists they will find weed. Since much of the movie’s humor springs from jokes on racial stereotypes, it’s no surprise that Princeton stereotypes take the main stage right away.

The stereotypes emphasized here are probably common to any Ivy-League school: nerdy losers and geeky Asians. The movie does a good job of playing off of these stereotypes and turning them upside down in one scene in which the Asians, who gawk and squeal at Harold’s investment banking job, are later shown at a rowdy party. The main perpetrator of the nerdy Asian stereotype, Bobby Lee (you know, the Asian guy from MadTV), is partying with his shirt off on top of a table, holding a large bag of marijuana, and has his hand inches away from a sexy topless undergrad’s breasts. If only this really happened at Princeton. Or maybe I’ve just been going to all the wrong pre-games so far.

Unfortunately, the movie gets a few more things totally wrong. First of all, we only get a minor glance at the douchebag stereotype, the one breed that really distinguishes Princeton from the rest of the pack.

And from looking at the set, Kumar seems to be looking for weed somewhere around Rocky-Mathey (the movie was actually filmed in the graduate dormitories). I’m very sure that any of us, out of the kindness of our hearts, would have surely directed him toward Terrace Club if he came to us asking for help. Finally, even though the nasty scene involving two sexy British girls and a game called “Battlesh*ts” has its funny moments, it doesn’t really say anything about Princeton. At least, I sure hope not.

All in all, I kind of like the image of Princeton that is sent out by this movie: Yeah, we’re nerds, but guess what? We still know how to throw a good party.