8-Bit Christmas (2021)

If there's anything that really embodies the spirit of Christmas, it's a small child becoming increasingly desperate as they start to realise that "Santa" probably isn't going to deliver the amazing new videogame system that they've had their heart set on for so long. That's the heart of 8-Bit Christmas, a film that is as much an ode to the joy of the Nintendo Entertainment System as it is to those childhood years spent pleading and scheming with parents for assistance in ensuring that the perfect present ends up under the tree by Christmas morning.

Starting in the here and now, Jake Doyle (Neil Patrick Harris) is being constantly pestered by a daughter (Annie, played by Sophia Reid-Gantzert) who wants a mobile phone for Christmas. Once they get back to Jake's childhood home, Jake shows his daughter his prized Nintendo Entertainment System, something he spent time wanting as badly as Annie wants a phone. This is the cue to move back through time, where we join young Jake (Winslow Fegley), his sister, Lizzie (Bellaluna Resnick), herself desperate for a Cabbage Patch Kids doll, and the parents (played by June Diane Raphael and Steve Zahn) trying to please their kids without necessarily giving in to their every whim. We see Jake developing his love/obsession for the videogame system, and the numerous setbacks he experiences as he tries to ensure the one thing that he thinks will guarantee him one of the best Christmases ever.

Director Michael Dowse has a filmography full of comedy features, with one or two notable exceptions, but this nostalgia-tinged romp (not his first film making use of that rose-tinted filter) is one of his best. He seems to work well with writer Kevin Jakubowski, someone I wasn't familiar with at all before this film, and makes excellent use of a near-perfect cast. It also helps that Christmas looms large in every scene, it's a deadline that may make or break the happiness of our lead characters, or so they think, and it's easy to remember that feeling of wanting something so badly that not getting it would signify the end of the world, because that's how huge and catastrophic it can feel when you're a child with that sharp focus.

Harris and Reid-Gantzert frame everything nicely, and the story structure maintains a nice connection between the past and the present as it shows the material side of Christmas counter-balanced by adults who know that there can be much more value in quality time and love shared between family members. Fegley is great fun as young Jake, whether he's coming up with a new plan to get his hands on a Nintendo or helping his parents make his sister happy. Resnick is cute enough, and her sibling relationship with Fegley's character feels natural and real. Both Raphael and Zahn are superb, even if the former is slightly overshadowed by the eventual front and centre positioning of the latter. Other children onscreen feel well-suited to their roles, Cyrus Arnold once again portrays a bully with aplomb (not sure how many he has played in his career so far, but I think he's three for three in the last films I have seen him star in), and there's a fun cameo role for David Cross.

An easy film to recommend to those who enjoyed the style and tone of The Wonder Years (and who didn't enjoy the style and tone of The Wonder Years?), 8-Bit Christmas is a funny and heart-warming Christmas story that should somehow connect with every viewer, whether it's a child hoping for their first mobile phone or an adult remembering the time when they wanted nothing more than a videogame console, Cabbage Patch Kid doll, or any big seller that seemed to disappear from shelves quicker than you could add it as a P.S. on your letter to Santa.

8/10

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The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent (2022)

The film in which Nicolas Cage famously plays an onscreen version of . . . Nicolas Cage, The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent is a film that obviously depends on how much you like Nicolas Cage. But that is something you could say about almost every Cage vehicle. This just happens to be his best film in quite a few years.

Cage is in a bit of a rut. His stock seems to be low, he has problems staying on good terms with his ex-wife (Sharon Horgan) and his daughter (Lily Mo Sheen), and he seems to be in the midst of a crisis that has no end in sight. Then his agent (Neil Patrick Harris) offers him a gig that could turn everything around, a payday for visiting a superfan named Javi (Pedro Pascal). Nick and Javi start getting on really well, which makes it a tough break when two agents (Tiffany Hadish and Ike Barinholtz) collar Cage and ask him to help them. It appears that Javi is a MAJOR criminal, and he may well have a kidnapped girl hidden away somewhere in his compound. 

Although I was happy to see this film, and to see the positive reception it received, I must admit to also resenting those who seem to represent the majority viewpoint depicted here. There are a lot of people who dismiss Cage, who have viewed him as a bit of a punchline, who won’t watch most movies that he stars in. It’s their loss. Yes, his movie choices over the past decade have been a bit hit and miss, with quantity overshadowing quality, but Cage is always aiming to do what he does best, and any career renaissance being touted now is touted from people who have decided to selectively forget the gems that remain strewn throughout every period of his extensive filmography.

Putting that aside, however, this is about as good as it gets for a comedy crafted around the perceived persona, and key films, of a majorly divisive movie star. The affection for Cage is obvious, and the material, and gags, work brilliantly while weaving from the universal to the very star-specific. Comedy fans should enjoy this, film fans will love it, and Cage fans should REALLY love it. Director Tom Gormican, who also wrote the script with Kevin Etten, does a superb job of balancing the various elements, from the sheer Cage factor of Cage to the bromance that blossoms at the heart of the film, from the family problems that our hero is unable to face head on, to the brief action beats that are interspersed throughout.

The cast all do a great job, with Cage being the one most obviously deserving of praise. His performance taps into everything, good and bad, that people know, or think they know, about him. He has always had an interesting level of self-awareness, and this whole movie underlines that in a way that is impossible to dislike. Pascal is a lot of fun, being someone who can see no wrong in his idol, and he is amusingly oblivious to much of the plot unfolding around him. Horgan and Sheen do well in their supporting roles, as do Haddish and Barinholtz, and there are a couple of great cameos that I won’t spoil here. Paco León is also very good, playing someone related to Pascal’s character, and someone who may be more attuned to the covert mission that Cage is on.

It’s not any new cinematic milestone. Movie stars have played themselves onscreen before, and there’s more than a touch of something like ¡Three Amigos! about it, but this all blends together into something that feels wonderfully original and entertaining, with a lot of that simply being down to the Cage factor.

8/10

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The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

Remember when you couldn't be told what The Matrix was? You just had to see for yourself? It was a game-changer, as they say, even if it wasn't actually all that original. The Wachowskis took some great ideas, some manga-inspired portrayals of action, bullet-time, and a great cast, and made a sci-fi action classic of the 20th century. That kind of thing can't really be repeated, as shown by the sequels. Maybe to try and recapture any of that cinematic magic is a fool's errand. If that is the case, director Lana Wachowski may well be the smartest fool around.

The Matrix Resurrections takes place after all of the events that we saw play out years before. Thomas "Neo" Anderson (Keanu Reeves) has been reincorporated into the matrix, allowed to incorporate elements of his past adventures into a massively popular videogame trilogy. Identities have changed in this universe, but the parts are essentially the same. Neo is Neo, he just isn't aware of it. Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) is Trinity, but she's been restrained in the role of a housewife/mother named Tiffany. There's a Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), there's an Agent Smith (Jonathan Groff), and there's a plucky resistance fighter (Bug, played by Jessica Henwick) looking to set things in motion to bring down the whole facade.

I loved this film. Absolutely loved it. And I can see why so many people hated it. Very few people enjoyed the previous sequels as much as I did, and this is very much a logical development from those. It takes the next step in the evolution of the matrix, as a concept, reframes the narrative in a way that is an obvious and brilliant direction for Lana Wachowski to choose, and delivers comments on the current state of society with all the subtlety of a slap in the face with a wet kipper. There are statements about people believing in emotions over facts, statements about the comfort of nostalgia, and a few lines dotted throughout that lovingly deride the optimism we loved in the original movies. Choice is an illusion, those we think have the power might just be in need of saving, and even that awe-inspiring bullet-time is derided for being oh so yesterday.

There's an argument to be made for this being just as impressive and vital as the first film, but I doubt I am the person to make that case. I'll just say that it comes damn close, with no small thanks to the constant feeling of someone biting the hand that is feeding them. Wachowski, who also co-wrote the movie with David Mitchell and Aleksandar Hemon (both having previously worked together on the series finale of Sense8), knows how redundant it could be to just rehash everything we've seen before in these movies. She also knows that it's a property that will be bled dry by those in control anyway, and that means Warner Bros. in this case (there's a very pointed line in here about that). Knowing those two things, Wachowski decides to smash up the toyroom, disassembling everything and reassembling it to be the same, but crucially different.

Reeves and Moss are still as necessary here as any of the film-making technique on display. They are the yin and yang, two halves of a beating heart that keeps flummoxing computer programs. Both do great work here, looking very tired and yet still very capable of handling themselves. Henwick is a lively new presence, her character being the one to quickly explain some of the new rules to characters she wants to help break out of their somnambulism. Abdul-Mateen II cannot hope to make himself as immediately iconic as Fishburne was, but he is helped by the script, trying out lines of dialogue from the first movie for size and getting himself comfortable in his new body. Groff is decent, albeit no replacement for Hugo Weaving, and Neil Patrick Harris gets to portray the most interesting new addition to the cast of characters, The Analyst, someone who viewers will immediately surmise knows more than he is letting on. There are small roles for other newcomers, such as Priyanka Chopra Jonas and a wasted Christina Ricci (wasted in her brief cameo, not wasted on any mind-altering substances), and some more returning players get treated very differently by the material. Jada Pinkett Smith gets to play Niobe in a similar way to how she was played before, but Lambert Wilson's The Merovingian is basically just used to comment further on the decline of modern civilization and the non-stop corporate interference in our daily lives.

Unfortunately, and surprisingly, the one weakest part of the film is another reason why I can see why so many reacted so strongly against it. The action sequences aren't that good. That's okay if you're just a sci-fi action movie that people decide to take a roll of the dice on, but it's a whole different kettle of phishing emails if you're the next instalment in The Matrix series. Some moments work well enough, and there are a couple of chase sequences that feel like a fun mash-up of Inception and Monsters, Inc., but the big set-pieces are marred by some clumsy choreography and horrible editing. The subversion of the big moment that everyone is waiting for is clever and fun, but I can equally see why people might find it irritating, almost contemptuous of the audience.

You know what, maybe Lana Wachowski IS contemptuous of her audience. Being such a fickle bunch, maybe audiences earn an occasional bit of contempt. If this is the end result, I don't mind at all. That's the way the cyber-cookie crumbles.

The Matrix Resurrections is the wildest mainstream movie sequel since Gremlins 2: The New Batch. It's a big middle finger raised to the idea of unoriginal, self-devouring, franchise instalments churned out to appease the masses while the world goes to hell in an Amazon basket. And it does that while being dressed up as an unoriginal, self-devouring, franchise instalment.

9/10

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Gone Girl (2014)

Gone Girl is a good film. At times it's a very good film. It also turns out to be the weakest one yet from director David Fincher. It's as if the opportunity to direct this came along when he wanted to coast slightly, matching his style and meticulous craftmanship to material that never really seems to deserve it. This is, let's be honest here, daytime TV movie stuff, given some added spice and edge to make it more of a talking point.

Ben Affleck plays Nick Dunne, the husband who goes home one day to find that his wife (Amy, played by Rosamund Pike) has gone. He calls in the police, and soon finds that he is the main subject of their investigation. As the evidence starts to pile up against him, Nick begins his own investigation. And he starts to suspect that perhaps he didn't really know his wife at all.

Written by Gillian Flynn, adapting her novel for the big screen, this is a film that seems to think it's always one step ahead of the viewer. It's not. Yes, there are one or two moments that will wrong-foot those wondering whether they are watching a real version of events, or something created by either of the main characters, but even those moments are easy to dismiss if you pay close enough attention to what's going on. There are a couple of BIG shocks, I guess, but even those are so heavily signposted that their impact is sorely muted.

Thankfully, none of the weaknesses in the source material cause any problems for the cast. Pike and Affleck deliver two fantastic performances, with the former able to enjoy a real variety of roles (depending on how she is being viewed by others) and the latter making the best use yet of that certain smug quality his detractors often accuse him of having. I've never had a problem with Affleck, but even those who tend to dislike what they view as his persona may end up liking his turn here, seeing him turn on charm for the sake of cameras and crowds while constantly having a large finger of suspicion pointed in his direction. Kim Dickens is great as the cop determined to crack the case, and Patrick Fugit tries his best alongside her, despite the fact that he seems trapped in a state of perpetual adolescence. Carrie Coon is the twin sister of Affleck's character, and very good she is in her role, Tyler Perry impresses as a hotshot lawyer willing to act in defence of a man who is starting to look guilty as sin, Neil Patrick Harris is an ex-lover who may or may not have information, and both Sela Ward and Missi Pyle have fun playing two TV celebrities, both with differing approaches but the same aim.

There's also the bonus of having Fincher at the helm, even if he IS on auto-pilot (or so it seems). The cool colour palette, the music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, the slow and steady camerawork, the pitch-black humour. I seem to spend half of my time saying that familiarity breeds contempt with the other half of my time appearing to be a bloody hypocrite when I say that familiarity can often be an easy, comforting layer used in movies. This movie falls in to the latter camp.

It's not often that a film can overcome weak source material. This one manages it. But there's only so much that can be done, which is why it ends up being merely a good film, as opposed to a great one.

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/Gone-Girl-Blu-ray-Tyler-Perry/dp/B00Q5996EQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1419685676&sr=1-2&keywords=gone+girl

A Million Ways To Die In The West (2014)

I quite like Seth MacFarlane, despite the fact that he often sets off my Spidey-sense when he delivers gags that feel more mean-spirited than actually funny. Ted was a lot of fun, but a lot of good work,and goodwill, was undone by MacFarlane's stint hosting the 2013 Academy Awards. He just didn't seem as funny when not hidden behind a character.

The premise is standard stuff. MacFarlane plays Albert, a peace-loving sheep farmer living in the wild west. He doesn't really fit in there, due to his lack of courage and the fact that he's never fired a gun, but he's happy enough with his lady, Louise (Amanda Seyfried). Until Louise ditches him, claiming that she needs time to herself before quickly latching on to the dapper Foy (Neil Patrick Harris). Just when he's at a real low point, Albert meets the lovely Anna (Charlize Theron), a woman who decides to help him grow a spine and perhaps even win back the love of his life. Unfortunately, Albert and Anna grow close, which causes some serious friction when her husband, the outlaw known as Clinch Leatherwood (Liam Neeson), arrives in town.

Let's get straight to the point here, the biggest problem with A Million Ways To Die In The West is Seth MacFarlane. He directed the film, he co-wrote the script (with Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild), and he stars in the lead role. Despite weakness in all three areas, it's probably his attempt to be a leading man that drags the film down the most. He's just not a likable enough onscreen presence to hold together a movie. When not delivered from behind an animated curtain,  the gags and dialogue just come across as smug and obvious.

The rest of the cast try their best, with Theron particularly enjoyable for every moment that she's onscreen. Seyfried and Harris are fun, and Neeson does okay, but isn't given enough screentime to make a better villain. Giovanni Ribisi and Sarah Silverman are a loving couple, despite the fact that the latter works every day as a prostitute while convincing her man that they should both save their own sexual activity for when they get married. There are also some great cameos, with one being SO good that it almost made me want to give the movie a bonus point, but to name names would spoil the surprises.

But the cast can only take you so far. At just under two hours, A Million Ways To Die In The West is far too long and far too misguided in attempts to wring humour from the scenario. Oh, if people think that seeing a sheep's penis in detail before it urinates on someone is funny then they will enjoy themselves. Similarly, anyone wanting to see a hat pretending to be filled with liquid excrement might chuckle, but someone hoping to see the unnecessary shot of the hat being knocked so that the liquid excrement starts to spill out onto the ground will find that this is their dream movie. Oh yes, those "gags" are in the movie. Thankfully, a lot of the other gags are better, but not by much.

There's some nice cinematography, and the kind of rousing score that you'd expect from a Western, but those are the only two elements that MacFarlane gets right. There's no love here for the movies, and certainly little attempt to twist the tropes of the genre (other than the obvious High Noon stuff). And, worst of all, the whole thing constantly feels just like a movie. It's self-conscious at almost every turn, but also self-satisfied, which makes it feel lazy and irritating.

Feel free to disbelieve me and check it out for yourself, but this is yet another film that packs most of the best bits into the trailer (and at least one gag that wasn't present, which I'm sure will be shoehorned into the "unrated, even ruder, even more dangerous" extended version that will hit shiny disc). It's not really worth your time or money.

3/10

http://www.amazon.com/Million-Ways-Blu-ray-DIGITAL-UltraViolet/dp/B00KM9MP9I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401818195&sr=8-1&keywords=a+million+ways+to+die+in+the+west+blu+ray

The Smurfs (2011)

Now, to be fair, I can't remember what The Smurfs were like in their original form. I can't recall the old comics that they appeared in or even the old cartoons. But I do recall enjoying their antics. Having just seen, and been extremely irritated by, The Smurfs, I can only assume that they appealed to me because I was younger and sitting in the target demographic. I may like to stay young at heart but that doesn't always guarantee that I'll enjoy childish things as much as I used to, especially if they're presented in such a poor way.

As well as the little blue folk there is a montage or two, an adult couple all too easily roped in to the proceedings (played by Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays - two people deserving of much better), far too many words replaced by the word "smurf" (e.g. "where the smurf are we?"), an incompetent villain played by Hank Azaria, a number of life lessons and one or two musical moments that are even worse than the usual hits shoehorned into these products. There's also an opening sequence that screams out "look at what we did so that you would be forced to drag the kids to see this in 3D, this is shiny 3D stuff, shiny and 3D and in no way improves the movie in any way but DOES allow everyone to make more money by charging you extra to see it in 3D!!!!!"

The story, as slight as it is, sees the smurfs ending up in New York, pursued by the dastardly Gargamel (Hank Azaria). The little blue folk, inevitably, disrupt the lives of a couple of adults (NPH and Mays) while one half of the couple is also trying to keep his boss (Sofia Vergara) happy and become a better partner for his loved one.

The vocal cast here includes Jonathan Winters as Papa Smurf, Alan Cumming, Katy Perry as the lone Smurfette, Anton Yelchin, George Lopez and some others. They do their bit, with Cumming providing a comedy Scottish brogue that sounds horribly fake even though he IS Scottish.

The script, by a number of people (J. David Stem, David N. Weiss, Jay Scherick and David Ronn), does have one or two decent lines making it clear that it knows how ridiculous the whole thing is but then everything is undone by the by-the-numbers big moments that audiences have already seen, and seen done 10 x better, in many, many other movies.

Director Raja Gosnell does what is asked of him but it's a shame that he couldn't have done something ever so slightly better with the material. A bit more sly wit wouldn't have gone amiss and the movie feels a bit too long, even at just 103 minutes.

Of course, kids will enjoy this a lot more than I did and any children reading this (why the hell would you read this? get outside and get doing kiddie things like playing football and/or vandalising empty homes) should add two or three to my final rating.

I won't be rushing to see the sequel that's already underway and I don't ever want to see this again but it'll please some people. I'd strongly advise most parents, however, to try and distract the kids with something/anything else instead.

4/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Smurfs-Blu-ray-Region-Free/dp/B003TFDUMI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1345713274&sr=8-2

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (2011)

Time has rolled merrily along since the second Harold & Kumar movie and the two characters have gone their separate ways. Harold (John Cho) has a great job, a lovely wife (Paula Garces, reprising her role from the first two movies) and generally a life of comfort and security that always seemed to elude him while he spent his time getting high. Kumar (Kal Penn) hasn't really gone up in the world and is, funnily enough, still mostly interested in getting high. Fate brings the two together just in time to put Christmas in jeopardy and they spend the movie trying to put things right. If Harold doesn't manage to sort out a Christmas tree that will please his father-in-law then he will be in big trouble. Especially when that father-in-law is played by Danny Trejo.

With Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg back on the writing duties it's surprising to find that this Harold & Kumar movie feels the least like an actual Harold & Kumar movie. Perhaps that's due to the Christmassy nature of the whole thing or perhaps it's simply because our duo have, inevitably, grown up. Just a little bit.

Regardless of the reason, we get quite a slightly movie this time around. The one thing that stays constant throughout all three movies is just how much fun the supporting players are. Danny Trejo in a Christmas sweater, Patton Oswalt as a drug-dealing Santa, Neil Patrick Harris as "Neil Patrick Harris", Eddie Kaye Thomas and David Krumholtz as bickering friends, Thomas Lennon as the main scene-stealer this time around, Richard Riehle as another Santa Claus and Elias Koteas as a violent gangster - there's plenty to enjoy.

Director Todd Strauss-Schulson doesn't do too badly in his role, and the direction and script both make some of their best little gags out of the whole 3D razzle dazzle, but you can't help feeling that this should really be the last hurrah for Harold & Kumar. The quality and quantity of the comedy has dipped since that enjoyable first outing but they've managed to stay the course through a decent enough comic trilogy.

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Two-Disc-Blu-ray-UltraViolet-Digital/dp/B006OFN0ES

Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay (2008)

Just like the first Harold & Kumar movie, this has grown on me since my first viewing. It just hasn't grown on me all that much. I think it's pretty funny in places, sure, but it's not as good as the first film by quite a margin.

Despite the title, the plot doesn't actually revolve around our two leads (once again played by John Cho and Kal Penn) escaping from Guantanamo Bay. Oh, that actually does happen but it happens for only a few minutes. The rest of the movie consists of the boys staying ahead of the zealous law enforcement official (Rob Corddry) who believes them to be terrorist scum. And that's really all you need to know.

Following on immediately from the events of the first movie, the direction is this time handled by writers Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, there's plenty here that will entertain fans of the original. It's just a shame that most of it is recycled from the first film with the whole thing having an longer runtime and lesser gag ratio.

Some moments still stand out: Neil Patrick Harris is hilarious once again, Christopher Meloni returns to play a Grand Wizard of the Klu Klux Klan, an attempt to draw information out of Harold and Kumar's parents allows Ed Helms to have some fun and Rob Corddry is almost always funny when onscreen (something that can't be said of most of his other movie roles).

While the script isn't as sharp this time around and while the concept may feel like they've already slightly outstayed their welcome, the movie is raised up by yet another great collection of actors all joining in with the fun, even for the smallest of cameo roles. As well as our leads, NPH, Corddry, Helms and Meloni we get David Krumholtz and Eddie Kaye Thomas returning, Roger Bart is good fun, Beverly D'Angelo is always a pleasure to see onscreen (is there anyone who grew up in the 80s who didn't have a crush on her as Ellen Griswold?) and James Adomian shows a lighter side to George W. Bush.

The sad fact is that this makes some mistakes common to most sequels but, thankfully, it also still has enough to keep things watchable and amusing. Just.

6/10.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Harold-Kumar-Escape-Guantanamo-Bay/dp/B001B8CBPC

Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (2004)

AKA Harold & Kumar Get The Munchies.

I am, as many people already know, a fan of dumb comedy. But the finest dumb comedy also has an intelligence to it that lurks behind any bad taste gags and profane language. Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle is one such movie. I may always have a soft spot for the woefully underappreciated Dude, Where's My Car? (and, no, I'm not being sarcastic) but this movie has grown a little more enjoyable with each viewing and it's one I've finally decided that I really like.

There's plenty here to love or loathe, depending on your taste, as Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) head off into the night in search of the perfect treat that will satisfy their munchies. Danny Leiner, who also directed that "Dude..." movie just mentioned above, does a fine job of making the best of the script by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg and is helped immensely by the cast. Cho and Penn are likeable enough leads, even if the latter is a bit of a pain in the backside at times, and there are a lot of great little turns from David Krumholtz, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Fred Willard, Ryan Reynolds, Anthony Anderson, Christopher Meloni (almost stealing the show), Malin Akerman, Gary Anthony Williams and Neil Patrick Harris (who DOES steal the show).

So what are the main ingredients included to tickle the funny bone? Well, there are plenty of jibes at racism, a chance encounter with some bizarre hillbilly types, moments of Neil Patrick Harris being a completely brilliant and OTT "Neil Patrick Harris", some overzealous policemen and a couple of lively critters causing some stress and more.

There are plenty of great snippets of dialogue throughout and the film has a nice line in surreal lunacy that weaves throughout proceedings without ever unbalancing the whole thing. Throw in a groovy soundtrack, a small helping of gratuitous nudity and the potential satisfaction of seeing our plucky underdogs actually come out on top and you have a fun flick that will offend some people while easily entertaining others.

Is it worth your time? Well, it's not worthless.

8/10.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Harold-Kumar-Get-Munchies-DVD/dp/B0007ZD72Q