Of all the unofficial holidays derived from an apocryphal bit police code, 4/20 is by far the most enduring. And just as “420” has gradually become entrenched as stoner shorthand for marijuana, the date April 20 has become an opportunity not just for college kids looking to indulge in a little extralegal fun, but also for drug law reformers and other advocacy groups to stump for a more reasonable national attitude toward America’s big green weed of choice.
And as marijuana laws have shifted over the years—from outright prohibition, to limited medicinal usage, to tightly regulated recreational use within certain states—marijuana themed movies have likewise evolved. Once upon a time, the only movies that even touched the subject of pot were hysterical propaganda pieces like Reefer Madness. Then, from the 1960s onward, weed became a popular (and hip) subject of broad comedy—in everything from Animal House to Annie Hall to Friday.
And as marijuana laws have shifted over the years—from outright prohibition, to limited medicinal usage, to tightly regulated recreational use within certain states—marijuana themed movies have likewise evolved. Once upon a time, the only movies that even touched the subject of pot were hysterical propaganda pieces like Reefer Madness. Then, from the 1960s onward, weed became a popular (and hip) subject of broad comedy—in everything from Animal House to Annie Hall to Friday.
- 4/20/2023
- by Matt Warren
- Film Independent News & More
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Beaver Trilogy (Trent Harris)
For a 1979 local news segment, Trent Harris filmed an affable young man’s drag performance as Olivia Newton-John at a talent show in Beaver, Utah. A few years later, Harris retold the story of the “Beaver Kid” in two fictional shorts, the first starring a then-unknown Sean Penn, the second starring a then-unknown Crispin Glover. The feature-length sum of all three parts, Beaver Trilogy is a captivating portrait of an outsider, a meta odyssey into reenactment and exploitation, and a true cult masterpiece.
New to Streaming: Le Cinéma Club
The Card Counter (Paul Schrader)
Whatever new could be said about Paul Schrader as an artist—curving around the extra-textual value in Kickstarter campaigns, Facebook posts, and tragic losses...
Beaver Trilogy (Trent Harris)
For a 1979 local news segment, Trent Harris filmed an affable young man’s drag performance as Olivia Newton-John at a talent show in Beaver, Utah. A few years later, Harris retold the story of the “Beaver Kid” in two fictional shorts, the first starring a then-unknown Sean Penn, the second starring a then-unknown Crispin Glover. The feature-length sum of all three parts, Beaver Trilogy is a captivating portrait of an outsider, a meta odyssey into reenactment and exploitation, and a true cult masterpiece.
New to Streaming: Le Cinéma Club
The Card Counter (Paul Schrader)
Whatever new could be said about Paul Schrader as an artist—curving around the extra-textual value in Kickstarter campaigns, Facebook posts, and tragic losses...
- 6/10/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Born from a decision to combine two aughts-era sketches that weren’t quite working on their own, filmed in 2018, and debuted in 2020 at Sundance, writer-director Adam Rehmeier would be forgiven for just being happy Dinner in America is finally hitting the public. The result is more than the culmination of a lengthy artistic gestation, though—its content, humor, and heart all merge to deliver a piece with the potential for cult appeal that transcends the act itself. It’s a treatise on America, the blurred line between taboo and cruelty, and our collective fear of real individuality despite claims by both sides of the aisle to foster freedom. The outcasts get their day.
Simon (Kyle Gallner) and Patty (Emily Skeggs) provide it via a complete disregard for decency, either through active (the former) or unintentional (the latter) anarchy. He’s the frontman of an underground punk outfit, Psyop, who would...
Simon (Kyle Gallner) and Patty (Emily Skeggs) provide it via a complete disregard for decency, either through active (the former) or unintentional (the latter) anarchy. He’s the frontman of an underground punk outfit, Psyop, who would...
- 5/24/2022
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
For Sunday’s Oscars 2019 ceremony, producers had a difficult decision of which film industry people would make the cut and who would be left out of the “In Memoriam.” For the segment, Gustavo Dudamel and the L.A. Philharmonic performed music by Oscar winner John Williams.
Over 100 Academy members or film industry veterans died in the past 12 months. Visit our own Gold Derby memoriam galleries for the year of 2018 and the newly-started gallery for 2019.
SEEDirector Stanley Donen, dead at 94, was light on his feet and a movie musical heavyweight
Stanley Donen would have certainly been included, but he died on the weekend after the segment had been finalized (look for him on the 2020 show). Here is list of some of the people included in the Memoriam tribute for the ceremony (Academy members are indicated with ** by their names):
Susan Anspach (actor)
Bernardo Bertolucci (director)
Yvonne Blake (costume designer)**
Paul Bloch...
Over 100 Academy members or film industry veterans died in the past 12 months. Visit our own Gold Derby memoriam galleries for the year of 2018 and the newly-started gallery for 2019.
SEEDirector Stanley Donen, dead at 94, was light on his feet and a movie musical heavyweight
Stanley Donen would have certainly been included, but he died on the weekend after the segment had been finalized (look for him on the 2020 show). Here is list of some of the people included in the Memoriam tribute for the ceremony (Academy members are indicated with ** by their names):
Susan Anspach (actor)
Bernardo Bertolucci (director)
Yvonne Blake (costume designer)**
Paul Bloch...
- 2/25/2019
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
While Academy Awards producers have strived for a much shorter ceremony this year, the annual “In Memoriam” segment will definitely remain. In fact this moment on Sunday’s 2019 event should be extra classy since Gustavo Dudamel and the L.A. Philharmonic will be performing as part of the tribute.
Over 100 Academy members or film industry veterans died in the past 12 months. But which ones will be featured in the short segment? There are generally outcries each year from family members upset about people being left out. Visit our own Gold Derby memoriam galleries for the year of 2018 and the newly-started gallery for 2019.
Virtually certain to be part of the montage are Oscar-winning directors Bernardo Bertolucci and Milos Forman, Oscar-nominated actors Carol Channing, Albert Finney and Burt Reynolds, director and actress Penny Marshall, executive producer and entertainment icon Stan Lee and many more.
SEEDana Carvey, Mike Myers, Queen Latifah, Barbra Streisand...
Over 100 Academy members or film industry veterans died in the past 12 months. But which ones will be featured in the short segment? There are generally outcries each year from family members upset about people being left out. Visit our own Gold Derby memoriam galleries for the year of 2018 and the newly-started gallery for 2019.
Virtually certain to be part of the montage are Oscar-winning directors Bernardo Bertolucci and Milos Forman, Oscar-nominated actors Carol Channing, Albert Finney and Burt Reynolds, director and actress Penny Marshall, executive producer and entertainment icon Stan Lee and many more.
SEEDana Carvey, Mike Myers, Queen Latifah, Barbra Streisand...
- 2/22/2019
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
This past October saw the unfortunate passing of filmmaker Danny Leiner, who directed episodes of Arrested Development and Freaks and Geeks, Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle and of course the classic… Dude, Where's My Car? (2000) Director: Danny Leiner Stars: Ashton Kutcher, Seann William Scott, Jennifer Garner Stoner friends Jesse and Chester wake up one morning unable…...
- 11/7/2018
- by Jason Adams
- JoBlo.com
This past October saw the unfortunate passing of filmmaker Danny Leiner, who directed episodes of Arrested Development and Freaks and Geeks, Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle and of course the classic… Dude, Where's My Car? (2000) Director: Danny Leiner Stars: Ashton Kutcher, Seann William Scott, Jennifer Garner Stoner friends Jesse and Chester wake up one morning unable…...
- 11/7/2018
- by Jason Adams
- JoBlo.com
James Karen, who starred in over 200 films and TV shows including “Poltergeist,” died Tuesday at the age of 94.
Karen is best known as Mr. Teague, the infamous real estate developer who built a suburb community over a graveyard, angering the spirits who laid there. In the film’s horrific climax, Steven Freeling, played by Craig T. Nelson, grabs Teague and hysterically yells, “You only moved the headstones!”
Also Read: Paul Allen, Microsoft Co-Founder, Dies at 65
Karen also starred in the cult film “Return of the Living Dead,” where he played the manager of a medical warehouse who accidentally releases a gas that raises the dead in a nearby graveyard. He also had roles in films like “All The President’s Men,” “Mulholland Drive,” and “The Pursuit of Happyness,” among many others.
On the TV side, Karen regularly appeared on the soap opera “As The World Turns” and got another role...
Karen is best known as Mr. Teague, the infamous real estate developer who built a suburb community over a graveyard, angering the spirits who laid there. In the film’s horrific climax, Steven Freeling, played by Craig T. Nelson, grabs Teague and hysterically yells, “You only moved the headstones!”
Also Read: Paul Allen, Microsoft Co-Founder, Dies at 65
Karen also starred in the cult film “Return of the Living Dead,” where he played the manager of a medical warehouse who accidentally releases a gas that raises the dead in a nearby graveyard. He also had roles in films like “All The President’s Men,” “Mulholland Drive,” and “The Pursuit of Happyness,” among many others.
On the TV side, Karen regularly appeared on the soap opera “As The World Turns” and got another role...
- 10/24/2018
- by Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
Known for directing slacker and stoner comedies like Dude, Where’s My Car? and Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle in the early 2000s, filmmaker Danny Leiner has sadly passed away at age 57. But the director had even more of a presence on the small screen, one that wasn’t quite as well-known. We take […]
The post ‘Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle’ Director Danny Leiner has Died at 57 appeared first on /Film.
The post ‘Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle’ Director Danny Leiner has Died at 57 appeared first on /Film.
- 10/22/2018
- by Ethan Anderton
- Slash Film
Danny Leiner, the director of the stoner comedies Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and Dude, Where’s My Car?, died Thursday, October 18th at the age of 57. Leiner’s death was first announced by his former co-producer Ross Putman, with Deadline later confirming that the director died following a battle with lung cancer.
“If there’s one thing I can say about Danny the professional, it’s that he refused to let us settle for anything less than our best,” Putman wrote on Facebook. “He pushed us to...
“If there’s one thing I can say about Danny the professional, it’s that he refused to let us settle for anything less than our best,” Putman wrote on Facebook. “He pushed us to...
- 10/21/2018
- by Ilana Kaplan
- Rollingstone.com
Danny Leiner, who directed the popular slacker comedies Dude, Where's My Car? and Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, has died. He was 57.
Leiner died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles after a long battle with cancer, his brother, Ken, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Leiner also helmed episodes of such series as The Sopranos, Sports Night, Strangers With Candy, Arrested Development, The Office, Felicity, Everwood, Gilmore Girls, Freaks and Geeks, The Mind of the Married Man, The Tick and Party of Five.
More recently, he directed and produced the Joshua Malina comedy Backwash at Crackle for Sony Pictures Television.
Dude, Where's My Car? (2000), starring Ashton Kutcher and Seann William ...
Leiner died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles after a long battle with cancer, his brother, Ken, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Leiner also helmed episodes of such series as The Sopranos, Sports Night, Strangers With Candy, Arrested Development, The Office, Felicity, Everwood, Gilmore Girls, Freaks and Geeks, The Mind of the Married Man, The Tick and Party of Five.
More recently, he directed and produced the Joshua Malina comedy Backwash at Crackle for Sony Pictures Television.
Dude, Where's My Car? (2000), starring Ashton Kutcher and Seann William ...
- 10/20/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Danny Leiner, who directed the popular slacker comedies Dude, Where's My Car? and Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, has died. He was 57.
Leiner died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles after a long battle with cancer, his brother, Ken, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Leiner also helmed episodes of such series as The Sopranos, Sports Night, Strangers With Candy, Arrested Development, The Office, Felicity, Everwood, Gilmore Girls, Freaks and Geeks, The Mind of the Married Man, The Tick and Party of Five.
More recently, he directed and produced the Joshua Malina comedy Backwash at Crackle for Sony Pictures Television.
Dude, Where's My Car? (2000), starring Ashton Kutcher and Seann William ...
Leiner died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles after a long battle with cancer, his brother, Ken, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Leiner also helmed episodes of such series as The Sopranos, Sports Night, Strangers With Candy, Arrested Development, The Office, Felicity, Everwood, Gilmore Girls, Freaks and Geeks, The Mind of the Married Man, The Tick and Party of Five.
More recently, he directed and produced the Joshua Malina comedy Backwash at Crackle for Sony Pictures Television.
Dude, Where's My Car? (2000), starring Ashton Kutcher and Seann William ...
- 10/20/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Danny Leiner, a film and television director whose feature films included “Dude, Where’s My Car” and “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,” died Thursday. He was 57.
Leiner’s collaborator Ross Putman confirmed his death in a Facebook post, and described its cause as a long illness.
“If there’s one thing I can say about Danny the professional, it’s that he refused to let us settle for anything less than our best. He pushed us to do what he knew we were capable of,” Putman wrote.
“Harold & Kumar” stars John Cho and Kal Penn also remembered Leiner on Twitter.
“Danny was so sharp, so funny, and a great dinner companion. To his friends and family, my deepest condolences,” wrote Cho.
“He was such a funny, thoughtful, encouraging person,” Penn tweeted.
I am so saddened to hear about the passing of Danny Leiner, who became my friend when...
Leiner’s collaborator Ross Putman confirmed his death in a Facebook post, and described its cause as a long illness.
“If there’s one thing I can say about Danny the professional, it’s that he refused to let us settle for anything less than our best. He pushed us to do what he knew we were capable of,” Putman wrote.
“Harold & Kumar” stars John Cho and Kal Penn also remembered Leiner on Twitter.
“Danny was so sharp, so funny, and a great dinner companion. To his friends and family, my deepest condolences,” wrote Cho.
“He was such a funny, thoughtful, encouraging person,” Penn tweeted.
I am so saddened to hear about the passing of Danny Leiner, who became my friend when...
- 10/20/2018
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
Danny Leiner, the director behind comedies Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle and Dude, Where’s My Car?, died Thursday from lung cancer. His death at age 57 was confirmed via a Facebook post by Ross Putman, who produced several films with Leiner.
“If there’s one thing I can say about Danny the professional, it’s that he refused to let us settle for anything less than our best,” Putman wrote on Facebook. “He pushed us to do what he knew we were capable of. Danny the person was sardonic, sharp, and savvy, with a love for culture and comedy of all kinds. It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but the world has lost a good one.”
Actors John Cho and Kal Penn, the stars of the Harold & Kumar films, praised Leiner via Twitter as a “funny, thoughtful, encouraging person.”
Leiner graduated Suny Purchase in 1987. His first feature film was Layin’ Low,...
“If there’s one thing I can say about Danny the professional, it’s that he refused to let us settle for anything less than our best,” Putman wrote on Facebook. “He pushed us to do what he knew we were capable of. Danny the person was sardonic, sharp, and savvy, with a love for culture and comedy of all kinds. It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but the world has lost a good one.”
Actors John Cho and Kal Penn, the stars of the Harold & Kumar films, praised Leiner via Twitter as a “funny, thoughtful, encouraging person.”
Leiner graduated Suny Purchase in 1987. His first feature film was Layin’ Low,...
- 10/20/2018
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Danny Leiner, who directed two stoner classics in “Dude, Where’s My Car?” and “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle,” has died at 57 after “a long illness.” Ross Putnam, who produced several films with Leiner, announced the news on Facebook. “If there’s one thing I can say about Danny the professional, it’s that he refused to let us settle for anything less than our best,” Putman wrote in his post.
“He pushed us to do what he knew we were capable of. Danny the person was sardonic, sharp, and savvy, with a love for culture and comedy of all kinds. It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but the world has lost a good one.”
Born May 13, 1961, Leiner graduated from Suny Purchase and made his feature debut in 1996 with “Layin’ Low.”
Kal Penn and John Cho, who starred in “Harold and Kumar” and its two sequels, reacted...
“He pushed us to do what he knew we were capable of. Danny the person was sardonic, sharp, and savvy, with a love for culture and comedy of all kinds. It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but the world has lost a good one.”
Born May 13, 1961, Leiner graduated from Suny Purchase and made his feature debut in 1996 with “Layin’ Low.”
Kal Penn and John Cho, who starred in “Harold and Kumar” and its two sequels, reacted...
- 10/20/2018
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Danny Leiner, the director of stoner comedies including “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” and “Dude, Where’s My Car?,” has died.
Leiner passed away late Thursday night, an individual close to Leiner told TheWrap.
Producer Ross Putman, who produced the 2014 “The Young Kieslowski” with Leiner, announced Leiner’s passing on Facebook.
“Danny was one of the producers with me on the first real film I ever made; he was not only gracious in sharing the job with some newbies just getting their sea legs, but taught us a great deal in the process,” Putman wrote. “And we collaborated a few times after that, including on the film I just finished–which he helped champion for years.”
A graduate of Suny Purchase, Leiner’s first feature film was the 1996 comedy “Layin’ Low,” starring Jeremy Piven and Edie Falco. His next feature “Dude, Where’s My Car?” in 2000 with Ashton Kutcher...
Leiner passed away late Thursday night, an individual close to Leiner told TheWrap.
Producer Ross Putman, who produced the 2014 “The Young Kieslowski” with Leiner, announced Leiner’s passing on Facebook.
“Danny was one of the producers with me on the first real film I ever made; he was not only gracious in sharing the job with some newbies just getting their sea legs, but taught us a great deal in the process,” Putman wrote. “And we collaborated a few times after that, including on the film I just finished–which he helped champion for years.”
A graduate of Suny Purchase, Leiner’s first feature film was the 1996 comedy “Layin’ Low,” starring Jeremy Piven and Edie Falco. His next feature “Dude, Where’s My Car?” in 2000 with Ashton Kutcher...
- 10/20/2018
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Ahead of American Ultra’s release in UK cinemas, we look at the rise of the stoner in film, from the 30s to the present...
"The motion picture you are about to witness may startle you. It would not have been possible, otherwise, to sufficiently emphasize the frightful toll of the new drug menace which is destroying the youth of America in alarmingly increasing numbers. Marihuana is that drug - a violent narcotic - an unspeakable scourge - the Real Public Enemy Number One!
So reads the opening crawl to the now infamous film Reefer Madness. Originally released in 1936, it was designed as a hard-hitting expose of marijuana and its inherent dangers. The drug could cause "violent, uncontrollable laughter," the movie's introduction read. It could induce "dangerous hallucinations," "monstrous extravagances," all eventually leading to "shocking acts of physical violence... ending often in incurable insanity."
Reefer Madness was one of many...
"The motion picture you are about to witness may startle you. It would not have been possible, otherwise, to sufficiently emphasize the frightful toll of the new drug menace which is destroying the youth of America in alarmingly increasing numbers. Marihuana is that drug - a violent narcotic - an unspeakable scourge - the Real Public Enemy Number One!
So reads the opening crawl to the now infamous film Reefer Madness. Originally released in 1936, it was designed as a hard-hitting expose of marijuana and its inherent dangers. The drug could cause "violent, uncontrollable laughter," the movie's introduction read. It could induce "dangerous hallucinations," "monstrous extravagances," all eventually leading to "shocking acts of physical violence... ending often in incurable insanity."
Reefer Madness was one of many...
- 8/27/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
One of the funnier stoner comedies to come along in the last decade is undeniably 2004's Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, produced by Jon Hurwitz and directed by Danny Leiner, starring John Cho (Harold) and Kal Penn (Kumar) as a pair of best friends that navigate all manner of craziness in order to satiate their muchies at White Castle. The film is chock full of hilarious guest stars, including Neil Patrick Harris (as himself, no less), Ethan Embry, Fred Willard, David...
- 10/5/2014
- by Paul Shirey
- JoBlo.com
When college freshman Brian (Ryan Malgarini) meets Leslie (Haley Lu Richardson), a drunken talkative girl at a party, they both experience their first intimate encounter. Their special night forms an intense connection between them at least for that night. But when the news of an unexpected pregnancy comes knocking at their door, their follow-up plans are conflicting. Furthermore, it is not an ordinary ordeal. Leslie is expecting twins. She wants to keep them. He doesn’t, but he is too afraid to voice his wishes and plays a part he wasn’t prepared for at all. In Kerem Sanga’s debut feature the “The Young Kieslowski”, comedy is the vehicle for the characters to grapple with their new life-changing circumstances. Can they make it work? Will their parents approve? Or will they crumble at the face of just difficult premise?
Director Kerem Sanga, producer Danny Leiner ("Dude, Where's My Car?," "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle") and stars Ryan Malgarini and Haley Lu Richardson shared with us their thoughts on this amusing story about decisions, unpredictable fate, and the uncertainty of young love.
The film premiered at Laff on Saturday June 14th and it screens again tonight at 6:30 Pm at the Regal L.A. Live Theaters
Carlos Aguilar: What’s the origin of the film? Does it come from anything personal or simply your desire to explore this complex relationship?
Karem Sanga: My dad and my mother got pregnant with my twin brother and me when they were in college. I though it would be pretty fun to write a movie about that and give it different characters and different situations.
Although this is fictional, my dad told me that the feeling after my mother told she was pregnant was a kind of daze. Like Brian in the film, he was just looking at everybody else and wanting to be one of them.
Aguilar: While writing the film and in the actors’ case while reading the script, did you put think of what you would have done in the characters’ situation?
My dad had a much more supportive reaction, obviously, here I am [Laughs], but then I thought, “Would I have felt that way?” When writing the film I gave in to my darkest impulses. I’d like to think that I’d be very supportive but then I also think that at his age I would have pretended to be supportive.
Haley Lu Richardson : You read something, you see a character, and you put yourself in that position and you find parts of yourself that are similar to that, parts that you can develop and will make this a different character. Especially with good writing, when I read it, it was really easy for me to do that. I started freaking out because I envisioning myself as the character in some of stressful, crazy stuff we had to go through. When a character makes me feel stressed, sad, and to feel like this guy is an idiot from Leslie Mallard’s’ perspective, it is easy to go there.
Ryan Malgarini : I’ve never been told that I was going to have twins [Laughs], as an actor you look at that and you just try to bring similar experiences of the same feeling. Like anxiety and stress, and bring that to the table for a good director like Karem who could really help guide you to how or what it feels like. Even if he hasn’t experience it, maybe some of his feelings of how should be portrayed get passed onto to me and something different is created.
Aguilar: Danny, you’ve worked in various capacities in the industry, particularly in broad comedies. What brought you this project?
Danny Leiner : Karem worked as a Pa in a movie I did in Texas. I met him when he was been starting in the industry and we just became friends during the shoot. When he came to L.A. to go to the screenwriting program at USC we kept in touch. He sent me an early version of this film and I just thought there was some potential there but it needed a lot of work. I encouraged him to really have a go at it and make it something special and that separated itself from everything else. A while later he sent me another version and I thought, “Wtf is this?” [Laughs] “This is amazing” I though it was a beautiful script. I’ve done broad comedy, but I’m just attracted to good material. He took a part of himself to create this, which was an incredible transformation.
Aguilar: Another recent film “Obvious Child” deals with pregnancy but from a woman’s perspective. In that film abortion is the fest solution the character finds for the situation. Did you ever consider that option for your characters?
Karem: I haven’t seen “Obvious Child” but I plan to. The thing about this story that was relatively easy to write was that it had this natural story to it built in, which is the pregnancy.
Did I ever think she might have the abortion? I thought about for about two seconds. I thought I had to honor the source material. I just wanted to see a character that didn’t want to have kids, have kids. I felt like that was a bigger transformation or just a worst premise for someone to go through. I never really considered ending it in any other way. I always had an ending in mind where somebody who’d been fighting this the whole time finally has to accept “Well this is what my life is now”. They say a father doesn’t really feel like a father until he sees the child, while a woman feels like a mother right when she finds out she is pregnant. So I think that was the disconnection the entire movie, he ran away from her.
Ryan: Is a real reaction, is the first thing you want to do when something like that happens, run away! [Laughs]
Haley: And you had no other social skills to know that even though that’s what you want to do, it is not what you are supposed do! [Laughs]
Aguilar: The protagonists’ story goes from a one-night stand to being faced with parenthood in a short amount of time. They are thrown into a serious relationship without having had a chance to have diverse experiences. How do you think this affects their relationship and in turn your performances?
Ryan: I think Karem hit it right on the button with hat comment about the father not feeling like a father until he sees the child for the first time. But you can see there is a change in her as soon as she gets pregnant. I think that the two wavelengths of him not wanting to have kids and her wanting to keep them, creates a nice little battle or subtext on screen. You see us do that fight back and forth which is really nice.
Haley: Because we did have that one night, that was really special to both of our characters, hopefully it is believable that we actually did connect and got attached to things in each other that we had never found in anyone else. We kind of did fall in love a little bit then. I think that night was special and it wasn’t like I was a drunk and he took me home and had sex with me, it was more than that. That’s what held things together, even though there was so much disconnection after that, and you kind of hated him and didn’t know what was going to happen since we didn’t even see each for months and months, hopefully you sill want us to be together at the end because of the special connection.
Ryan: At the end of the day, what held him close to her, even after the news of the pregnancy, was the fact that he really did like her. He truly wanted to see where things could go with her, because he really did care. That’s a nice touch.
Hailey : Before they met each other, neither Leslie nor Brian had probably experienced any connection with any other person. That was a really a special thing.
Karem : It occurred to me after shooting, that they only have three occasions where they spent any time together before they have the kids. They hook-up, a month later she tells him and they spend a little time together, and then months later they see each other.
Danny: The first day of shooting we shot the scene where Haley tells him she wants to keep the kids and he misunderstands her and is relieved. That scene is really cool, and that’s thanks to great writing, directing, and of course great acting. It is a very textured scene.
Ryan : We were able to pull that off because we rehearse a lot
Haley : We were forced! Karem made us [Laughs]
Karem : I think we rehearsed that scene more than anything
Hailey : We needed to figure out what Leslie and Brian’s relationship was going to be like, that was important.
Karem : It was also for me to figure out “Are these people going to listen to what I say?”
Danny : How much can I manipulate them? [Laughs]
Aguilar: The inner voice he struggles with adds an added depth to the character. Where did that voice and the other magical realist elements come from?
Karem : I’d written and I’d thrown in lots of stuff like that while working on the script with David Hunter. I didn’t think, “Is this the right thing to do?” I wondered “What is he thinking?” and stylistically it was about never doing the same thing twice. One time you have the reenactment of what he would have said had he had the guts, another time you have him talking with his voiceover voice, there is like 5 or 6 things like that. The point of view of the voice over is just constantly shifting. Sometimes he is in the future looking back; sometimes he is the devil on his shoulder.
Director Kerem Sanga, producer Danny Leiner ("Dude, Where's My Car?," "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle") and stars Ryan Malgarini and Haley Lu Richardson shared with us their thoughts on this amusing story about decisions, unpredictable fate, and the uncertainty of young love.
The film premiered at Laff on Saturday June 14th and it screens again tonight at 6:30 Pm at the Regal L.A. Live Theaters
Carlos Aguilar: What’s the origin of the film? Does it come from anything personal or simply your desire to explore this complex relationship?
Karem Sanga: My dad and my mother got pregnant with my twin brother and me when they were in college. I though it would be pretty fun to write a movie about that and give it different characters and different situations.
Although this is fictional, my dad told me that the feeling after my mother told she was pregnant was a kind of daze. Like Brian in the film, he was just looking at everybody else and wanting to be one of them.
Aguilar: While writing the film and in the actors’ case while reading the script, did you put think of what you would have done in the characters’ situation?
My dad had a much more supportive reaction, obviously, here I am [Laughs], but then I thought, “Would I have felt that way?” When writing the film I gave in to my darkest impulses. I’d like to think that I’d be very supportive but then I also think that at his age I would have pretended to be supportive.
Haley Lu Richardson : You read something, you see a character, and you put yourself in that position and you find parts of yourself that are similar to that, parts that you can develop and will make this a different character. Especially with good writing, when I read it, it was really easy for me to do that. I started freaking out because I envisioning myself as the character in some of stressful, crazy stuff we had to go through. When a character makes me feel stressed, sad, and to feel like this guy is an idiot from Leslie Mallard’s’ perspective, it is easy to go there.
Ryan Malgarini : I’ve never been told that I was going to have twins [Laughs], as an actor you look at that and you just try to bring similar experiences of the same feeling. Like anxiety and stress, and bring that to the table for a good director like Karem who could really help guide you to how or what it feels like. Even if he hasn’t experience it, maybe some of his feelings of how should be portrayed get passed onto to me and something different is created.
Aguilar: Danny, you’ve worked in various capacities in the industry, particularly in broad comedies. What brought you this project?
Danny Leiner : Karem worked as a Pa in a movie I did in Texas. I met him when he was been starting in the industry and we just became friends during the shoot. When he came to L.A. to go to the screenwriting program at USC we kept in touch. He sent me an early version of this film and I just thought there was some potential there but it needed a lot of work. I encouraged him to really have a go at it and make it something special and that separated itself from everything else. A while later he sent me another version and I thought, “Wtf is this?” [Laughs] “This is amazing” I though it was a beautiful script. I’ve done broad comedy, but I’m just attracted to good material. He took a part of himself to create this, which was an incredible transformation.
Aguilar: Another recent film “Obvious Child” deals with pregnancy but from a woman’s perspective. In that film abortion is the fest solution the character finds for the situation. Did you ever consider that option for your characters?
Karem: I haven’t seen “Obvious Child” but I plan to. The thing about this story that was relatively easy to write was that it had this natural story to it built in, which is the pregnancy.
Did I ever think she might have the abortion? I thought about for about two seconds. I thought I had to honor the source material. I just wanted to see a character that didn’t want to have kids, have kids. I felt like that was a bigger transformation or just a worst premise for someone to go through. I never really considered ending it in any other way. I always had an ending in mind where somebody who’d been fighting this the whole time finally has to accept “Well this is what my life is now”. They say a father doesn’t really feel like a father until he sees the child, while a woman feels like a mother right when she finds out she is pregnant. So I think that was the disconnection the entire movie, he ran away from her.
Ryan: Is a real reaction, is the first thing you want to do when something like that happens, run away! [Laughs]
Haley: And you had no other social skills to know that even though that’s what you want to do, it is not what you are supposed do! [Laughs]
Aguilar: The protagonists’ story goes from a one-night stand to being faced with parenthood in a short amount of time. They are thrown into a serious relationship without having had a chance to have diverse experiences. How do you think this affects their relationship and in turn your performances?
Ryan: I think Karem hit it right on the button with hat comment about the father not feeling like a father until he sees the child for the first time. But you can see there is a change in her as soon as she gets pregnant. I think that the two wavelengths of him not wanting to have kids and her wanting to keep them, creates a nice little battle or subtext on screen. You see us do that fight back and forth which is really nice.
Haley: Because we did have that one night, that was really special to both of our characters, hopefully it is believable that we actually did connect and got attached to things in each other that we had never found in anyone else. We kind of did fall in love a little bit then. I think that night was special and it wasn’t like I was a drunk and he took me home and had sex with me, it was more than that. That’s what held things together, even though there was so much disconnection after that, and you kind of hated him and didn’t know what was going to happen since we didn’t even see each for months and months, hopefully you sill want us to be together at the end because of the special connection.
Ryan: At the end of the day, what held him close to her, even after the news of the pregnancy, was the fact that he really did like her. He truly wanted to see where things could go with her, because he really did care. That’s a nice touch.
Hailey : Before they met each other, neither Leslie nor Brian had probably experienced any connection with any other person. That was a really a special thing.
Karem : It occurred to me after shooting, that they only have three occasions where they spent any time together before they have the kids. They hook-up, a month later she tells him and they spend a little time together, and then months later they see each other.
Danny: The first day of shooting we shot the scene where Haley tells him she wants to keep the kids and he misunderstands her and is relieved. That scene is really cool, and that’s thanks to great writing, directing, and of course great acting. It is a very textured scene.
Ryan : We were able to pull that off because we rehearse a lot
Haley : We were forced! Karem made us [Laughs]
Karem : I think we rehearsed that scene more than anything
Hailey : We needed to figure out what Leslie and Brian’s relationship was going to be like, that was important.
Karem : It was also for me to figure out “Are these people going to listen to what I say?”
Danny : How much can I manipulate them? [Laughs]
Aguilar: The inner voice he struggles with adds an added depth to the character. Where did that voice and the other magical realist elements come from?
Karem : I’d written and I’d thrown in lots of stuff like that while working on the script with David Hunter. I didn’t think, “Is this the right thing to do?” I wondered “What is he thinking?” and stylistically it was about never doing the same thing twice. One time you have the reenactment of what he would have said had he had the guts, another time you have him talking with his voiceover voice, there is like 5 or 6 things like that. The point of view of the voice over is just constantly shifting. Sometimes he is in the future looking back; sometimes he is the devil on his shoulder.
- 6/17/2014
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Freaks and Geeks Episode 9 ‘We’ve Got Spirit’
Written by Mike White
Directed by Danny Leiner
Aired 1/24/2000 on NBC
There is a holy trinity of events that bring a high school population: lunch every day, school dances, and big sporting events. In theory, high school is really just a bunch of people thrown together because of their geographic location, so those few moments are the rare instances where the population of a school really comes together. But sports events are a monster all to their own: when a sports team becomes a powerhouse, it brings the entire community together, despite all the personal and social dramatics that might be afflicting us. Amongst all the teen angst of McKinley High and its inhabitants, ‘We’ve Got Spirit’ quietly reflects on those rare moments when everyone comes together.
More so, ‘We’ve Got Spirit’ suggests a reason why we don’t come...
Written by Mike White
Directed by Danny Leiner
Aired 1/24/2000 on NBC
There is a holy trinity of events that bring a high school population: lunch every day, school dances, and big sporting events. In theory, high school is really just a bunch of people thrown together because of their geographic location, so those few moments are the rare instances where the population of a school really comes together. But sports events are a monster all to their own: when a sports team becomes a powerhouse, it brings the entire community together, despite all the personal and social dramatics that might be afflicting us. Amongst all the teen angst of McKinley High and its inhabitants, ‘We’ve Got Spirit’ quietly reflects on those rare moments when everyone comes together.
More so, ‘We’ve Got Spirit’ suggests a reason why we don’t come...
- 6/26/2013
- by Randy
- SoundOnSight
Us video-on-demand service commissions series from Morgan Spurlock, Adrian Grenier and the Assassin's Creed creator
Us video-on-demand service Hulu has made its first ever TV network-style programming presentation to Us advertisers, unveiling original commissions from Morgan Spurlock, Entourage's Adrian Grenier and the creator of the popular video game franchise Assassin's Creed.
Hulu, the joint venture with partners including News Corporation, Disney and NBC Universal, has built its video streaming service on buying rights to exisiting TV shows but a 60% rise in revenue to $420m in 2011 has seen the company look to invest in its own content.
In its first appearance at the hugely important Us upfronts season, when TV broadcasters present new shows in New York and lock down billions of dollars in advertising deals, Hulu unveiled four new original commissions.
"We want you to think of us as a cable TV network, or a slice of the prime time,...
Us video-on-demand service Hulu has made its first ever TV network-style programming presentation to Us advertisers, unveiling original commissions from Morgan Spurlock, Entourage's Adrian Grenier and the creator of the popular video game franchise Assassin's Creed.
Hulu, the joint venture with partners including News Corporation, Disney and NBC Universal, has built its video streaming service on buying rights to exisiting TV shows but a 60% rise in revenue to $420m in 2011 has seen the company look to invest in its own content.
In its first appearance at the hugely important Us upfronts season, when TV broadcasters present new shows in New York and lock down billions of dollars in advertising deals, Hulu unveiled four new original commissions.
"We want you to think of us as a cable TV network, or a slice of the prime time,...
- 4/20/2012
- by Mark Sweney
- The Guardian - Film News
Today Hulu unveiled four new original series to a crowd of about 500 at their digital upfront, which took place at the Times Center in New York this morning. Part of the Digital Content NewFronts that kicked off this week, the Hulu upfront included several of the most prominent digital-ad buyers on Madison Avenue and executives from marketers like BMW. Here's a breakdown of the slate: The Awesomes, an animated series about comically flawed superheroes, from Saturday Night Live star Seth Meyers and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon producer Michael Shoemaker Don't Quit Your Daydream, a series about struggling musicians, from Entourage star Adrian Grenier We Got Next, a comedy based on friendships made on the basketball court from Kenya Barris from Are We There Yet?, Hale Rothstein from Everybody Hates Chris, and Danny Leiner from The Office Flow, a fantasy series from video game industry star Michael Wendschuh based around...
- 4/19/2012
- by Drew Baldwin
- Tubefilter.com
Eleven years to the day after production wrapped on the beloved one-season series "Freaks and Geeks," the bulk of the cast reunited on stage at PaleyFest 2011 in Los Angeles.
Executive producer Judd Apatow and creator Paul Feig sat down with cast members including Linda Cardellini, John Francis Daley, Seth Rogen, Martin Starr, Jason Segel and Busy Philipps.
The only notable absence among the core cast was James Franco, who, in typical Franco fashion, shared his excuse in a self-made video message.
"Sorry I can't be there tonight. 'Freaks and Geeks' was such a cool show," he said, smiling down at the audience, holding up an iPad next to his face with an illuminated photo of Anne Hathaway.
"Unfortunately, I'm busy rehearsing with Anne," said Franco. "We are going to host the Emmys, the NAACP and the Espys. Anything else you'd like to add Anne?"
He paused, put the...
Executive producer Judd Apatow and creator Paul Feig sat down with cast members including Linda Cardellini, John Francis Daley, Seth Rogen, Martin Starr, Jason Segel and Busy Philipps.
The only notable absence among the core cast was James Franco, who, in typical Franco fashion, shared his excuse in a self-made video message.
"Sorry I can't be there tonight. 'Freaks and Geeks' was such a cool show," he said, smiling down at the audience, holding up an iPad next to his face with an illuminated photo of Anne Hathaway.
"Unfortunately, I'm busy rehearsing with Anne," said Franco. "We are going to host the Emmys, the NAACP and the Espys. Anything else you'd like to add Anne?"
He paused, put the...
- 3/13/2011
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
There are a lot of very funny, very talented actors forced to take small, dumb paycheck roles on bad television shows and in seriously shitty movies because they are very funny, very talented actors and Hollywood has no use for them. This is the reason you see people like David Cross in Alvin and the Chipmunks, why Patton Oswalt was relegated to the weird neighbor role on "The King of Queens," and why you only see guys like Craig Bierko in guest spots and bad TV movies. They have to make a living, and in a town that often doesn't appreciate real wit and humor, some of our favorite television actors have to settle for roles beneath them. Have you seen what's become of Dave Foley's career?
This is why web series are great. It gives us an opportunity to see what some of these great actors are capable...
This is why web series are great. It gives us an opportunity to see what some of these great actors are capable...
- 1/12/2011
- by Dustin Rowles
Today on LonsTV's I'm looking at the Crackle.com original comedy series Backwash from writer/creator/star Joshua Malina and Danny Leiner (director of the modern comedy classic Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle). The 3 lead characters in Backwash are on the run from the law in a stolen ice cream truck, with only their meager wits and $100,000 in stolen money to sustain them. But the show isn't so much about the driving forward momentum of plot than the bizarre, sophomoric, frequently non sequitur hijinks of man-child Jonesy (Michael Panes), fast-talking schemer Val (Malina) and their accomplice, ice cream truck driver Nick (Michael Ian Black of The State and Stella). Less sitcom than extended comedy sketch, each episode of Backwash opens with a well-known TV star narrating the boys' strange cross-country journey, in the style of Masterpiece Theater. (The ongoing joke is that it's based on a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray,...
- 1/7/2011
- by Lon Harris
- Tubefilter.com
Update! As we suspected the poster is a confirmed fake. It's actually fan art stolen from the IMDb message boards here. We've updated our source credits in the article below to reflect that. In the last decade, as weird as it is to say, few titles have surprised me as much as the Harold and Kumar movies. I went into the first film recognizing it as Danny Leiner's follow-up to Dude, Where's My Car? and was taken aback by how funny it really was and how great the two leads were. Fast forward four years and I walk into Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay expecting a cheap, cash-in sequel, only to have it be similarly effective, though to a lesser degree. Finally convinced that it's fun to watch Kal Penn and John Cho go on sweet adventures together, A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas is very much...
- 1/3/2011
- cinemablend.com
In the last decade, as weird as it is to say, few titles have surprised me as much as the Harold and Kumar movies. I went into the first film recognizing it as Danny Leiner's follow-up to Dude, Where's My Car? and was taken aback by how funny it really was and how great the two leads were. Fast forward four years and I walk into Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay expecting a cheap, cash-in sequel, only to have it be similarly effective, though to a lesser degree. Finally convinced that it's fun to watch Kal Penn and John Cho go on sweet adventures together, A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas is very much on my radar, and now we have the first teaser poster for the movie. HeyUGuys has discovered what they claim is the first one-sheet and while it's a fairly simply design and doesn't...
- 1/3/2011
- cinemablend.com
Josh Malina had a grudge against director Danny Leiner (aka, the man behind "Dude, Where’s My Car" and "Harold and Kumar"). “It was more of a mini-grudge,” jokes Malina. “We’d worked together on “Sports Night” and he went on to do all these things like “The Tick” and “The Sopranos” and I was like, ‘Dude, where’s my call to work together again’?...
- 11/16/2010
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Joshua Malina ("The West Wing," "SportsNight") was once just a guy with an idea.
"It's been noodling around for a very long time," he tells Zap2it, "Michael Panes is an old friend of mine. He is very old, I'm not. I've written this in various forms over the years. I wrote it as a movie. I wrote it as a pilot.
"I created these two main characters for Michael Panes and myself, and every few years, he'd say, 'Why don't you finish that thing?' I'm not big on completion."
At long last, the characters -- Val (Malina) and Jonesy (Panes) -- have found a home, and it's not in a movie or a TV show. On Monday, Nov. 15, Sony's Website for original video, Crackle.com, premieres "Backwash," a series of 13 episodes, each seven to nine minutes in length (and featuring some very salty language).
They tell the story...
"It's been noodling around for a very long time," he tells Zap2it, "Michael Panes is an old friend of mine. He is very old, I'm not. I've written this in various forms over the years. I wrote it as a movie. I wrote it as a pilot.
"I created these two main characters for Michael Panes and myself, and every few years, he'd say, 'Why don't you finish that thing?' I'm not big on completion."
At long last, the characters -- Val (Malina) and Jonesy (Panes) -- have found a home, and it's not in a movie or a TV show. On Monday, Nov. 15, Sony's Website for original video, Crackle.com, premieres "Backwash," a series of 13 episodes, each seven to nine minutes in length (and featuring some very salty language).
They tell the story...
- 11/15/2010
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
A new comedy webbie, "Backwash" premieres on Crackle November 15. Joshua Malina, Michael Panes and Michael Ian Black are three slacker friends who hit the road in an ice cream truck, after one of them inadvertently robs $100K from a bank armed only with a large salami. Influenced by touch of Python, a smattering of Marx Brothers, "Backwash" is a slapstick look at the effects of sudden wealth on three American losers.Val (Joshua Malina), Jonesy (Michael Panes) and Fleming (Michael Ian Black), told through action, animation, surrealist humor, as well as song and dance. "Backwash" is directed by Danny Leiner, written by Joshua Malina, and executive produced by Daniel Schnider, Leiner and Malina. Cameos featured...
- 11/10/2010
- by April MacIntyre
- Monsters and Critics
Meg Ryan, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, John Lithgow, Joe Anderson and Kat Dennings will star in Bcdf Pictures' drama "Lives of the Saints."According to Variety, Chris Rossi is writing and directing.The cast also includes Kevin Zegars, Anthony Anderson and Esai Morales.Matt Tauber is producing with Claude Dal Farra and Daniel Swee. Brice Dal Farra, Lauren Munsch and Paul Prokop of Bcdf Pictures are executive producing, along with Danny Leiner and Jennifer Levine of Untitled Entertainment. The story dissects the intertwining stories of a group of Los Angeles residents seeking redemption for past mistakes. Shooting is set to begin November 13 in Los Angeles.
- 10/21/2010
- by Adnan Tezer
- Monsters and Critics
What's that shambling over the curb toward the local theater? No, behind the vampires. Could it be a stampede of the undead about to take over Hollywood?
AMC's new drama series "The Walking Dead" debuts on Halloween, and more than a half-dozen zombie-related feature projects are on their way to theaters -- including Friday's "Resident Evil: Afterlife" -- or in development at the studios. With this many flesh-rotting grave-jumpers on tap, could zombies be making a run -- or, perhaps, a very slow, clumsy walk -- at the pop culture crown?
"Zombie movies, much like zombies, could become this horde that just marches across the world," said Rhett Reese, who co-wrote last year's breakout hit "Zombieland" with Paul Wernick.
The movie, TV and publishing industries have been feasting on vampires for material the past few years. But like every profitable trend, the obsession with bloodsuckers must eventually head back into...
AMC's new drama series "The Walking Dead" debuts on Halloween, and more than a half-dozen zombie-related feature projects are on their way to theaters -- including Friday's "Resident Evil: Afterlife" -- or in development at the studios. With this many flesh-rotting grave-jumpers on tap, could zombies be making a run -- or, perhaps, a very slow, clumsy walk -- at the pop culture crown?
"Zombie movies, much like zombies, could become this horde that just marches across the world," said Rhett Reese, who co-wrote last year's breakout hit "Zombieland" with Paul Wernick.
The movie, TV and publishing industries have been feasting on vampires for material the past few years. But like every profitable trend, the obsession with bloodsuckers must eventually head back into...
- 9/9/2010
- by By Jay A. Fernandez and Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"Freaks and Geeks" is now airing on IFC, and we thought we'd take this opportunity to revisit the show that launched a thousand bromance movies. Every week, Matt Singer and Alison Willmore will be offering their thoughts on that night's episode.
Episode 9
We've Got Spirit
Directed by Danny Leiner
Written by Mike White
"Cheerleaders have to date athletes. It's the law." -- Neil
Matt: The stories of "Freaks and Geeks" are stories of the high school underclass. But with "We've Got Spirit," the tenuous armistice that's held for eight episodes between the burnouts and dweebs and their social betters erupts into full-blown class warfare. The athletically indifferent freaks discover their school spirit during a series of skirmishes -- water balloons, spray paint, fist fights -- with jocks from rival school Lincoln High (we can tell they're not freaks by their varsity jackets).
Meanwhile, Sam becomes the McKinley High mascot in...
Episode 9
We've Got Spirit
Directed by Danny Leiner
Written by Mike White
"Cheerleaders have to date athletes. It's the law." -- Neil
Matt: The stories of "Freaks and Geeks" are stories of the high school underclass. But with "We've Got Spirit," the tenuous armistice that's held for eight episodes between the burnouts and dweebs and their social betters erupts into full-blown class warfare. The athletically indifferent freaks discover their school spirit during a series of skirmishes -- water balloons, spray paint, fist fights -- with jocks from rival school Lincoln High (we can tell they're not freaks by their varsity jackets).
Meanwhile, Sam becomes the McKinley High mascot in...
- 8/27/2010
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
It isn't the least bit of an exaggeration to call Neil Patrick Harris Emmy's triple threat. The TV, film and stage veteran earned three nominations this year -- for his turn in Season 5 of CBS' comedy "How I Met Your Mother," for hosting the 2009 Tony Awards and for his guest spot on Fox's "Glee." The former Emmy host and soon-to-be father chats with THR's Leslie Bruce about his busy year, how he feels about the overturning of California's Prop. 8 and the rumors he's taking a break from Hollywood. The Hollywood Reporter: With projects in film, TV and on the stage, you've had a very industrious year. How does it feel to double your career Emmy nominations in one fell swoop?Harris: I have three times as much of a chance to lose, so I'm very excited. It's been a busy year, but I'm happy to be riding the "Glee" train.
- 8/19/2010
- backstage.com
It's reefer madness this week, as the world awaits the DVD release of Hey Watch This, a documentary shot last year during Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong's Light Up America reunion tour. (It hits streets on Tuesday, April 20.) In honor of the two kings of stoner cinema, we recommend checking out this list of cinema's top ten smoke-fueled flicks that pay tribute -- in their own special way -- to Cheech and Chong's legacy. What do they say about smoking 'em if you got 'em? 10. Dude, Where's My Car?Dude director Danny Leiner is the Martin Scorsese of marijuana movies. Not only did he pilot Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott through this one-joke comedy, where -- spoiler alert -- two dudes wander aimlessly in search of their missing vehicle, but he also went on to direct Harold & Kumar (more on that later). If Hollywood had a stoner-movie hall of fame,...
- 4/18/2010
- AMC Filmcritic's Top Ten
It's reefer madness this week, as the world awaits the DVD release of Hey Watch This, a documentary shot last year during Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong's Light Up America reunion tour. (It hits streets on Tuesday, April 20.) In honor of the two kings of stoner cinema, we recommend checking out this list of cinema's top ten smoke-fueled flicks that pay tribute -- in their own special way -- to Cheech and Chong's legacy. What do they say about smoking 'em if you got 'em? 10. Dude, Where's My Car?Dude director Danny Leiner is the Martin Scorsese of marijuana movies. Not only did he pilot Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott through this one-joke comedy, where -- spoiler alert -- two dudes wander aimlessly in search of their missing vehicle, but he also went on to direct Harold & Kumar (more on that later). If Hollywood had a stoner-movie hall of fame,...
- 4/16/2010
- by Sean O’Connell
- AMC Filmcritic's Top Ten
What do Jon Hamm, John Stamos, Sarah Silverman, John Cho, Allison Janney, Hank Azaria, Fred Willard, Michael Vartan, Dulé Hill, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Jeffrey Ross, Ken Marino and David Wain have in common? They all cameo as themselves in Backwash, a 13-episode web series written by and starring Joshua Malina (Sports Night, The West Wing) debuting on Sony's Crackle.com this summer. The series, directed by Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle's Danny Leiner, follows three eccentric losers (pictured, from left to right, Malina, Michael Ian Black, and Michael Panes) who hit the road in an ice cream truck...
- 3/22/2010
- by Mandi Bierly
- EW.com - PopWatch
- Mandate might not be a supplier of films for Cannes' competition, but they supply tons of stuff: not only for Lionsgate, but in Grant Heslov's debut The Men Who Stare at Goats, Drew Barrymore's roller derby film Whip It! and Tarsem's third feature film in the soon to be shooting War of Gods. Facing Ali by Pete McCormack - Completed Five Killers by Robert Luketic - Production The Baster by Josh Gordon - Production The Widows' Adventures by Danny Leiner - Pre-Production Warrior by Gavin O'Connor - Production Alpha And Omega: 3-D by Anthony Bell - Production Dear John by Lasse Hallstrom - Post-Production More Than A Game by Kristopher Belman - Completed Saw VI by Kevin Greutert - Production Season Of The Witch by Dominic Sena - Post-Production Shrink by Jonas Pate - Completed The 4th Kind by Olatunde Osunsanmi - Completed The Haunting In Connecticut
- 5/14/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
Leading up to the Oscars on Feb. 22, we will be highlighting the nominated films that have appeared in the magazine or on the Website in the last year. Howard Feinstein interviewed the key principals of The Visitor for our Spring '08 issue. The Visitor is nominated for Best Actor (Richard Jenkins). In 2005, Tom McCarthy, who has been acting for nearly 20 years, appeared in three films with strong political thrusts: Syriana; Good Night, and Good Luck; and Danny Leiner‘s underappreciated The Great New Wonderful. In The Station Agent (2003), his first feature as a director, however, McCarthy displayed the seeds of this social engagement. The Station Agent is not political in the issue sense so much as it is progressively anthropological...
- 2/3/2009
- by Jason Guerrasio
- Filmmaker Magazine_Web Exclusives
I know I’m at Los Angeles’ American Film Market when, as soon as I get off the plane, I run into Lloyd Kaufman (in a men’s room, no less). The Troma chief serves as the Chairman of the Independent Film and Television Alliance, which runs the Afm. Who better to chair an organization and market dedicated to discovering and promoting movies created outside the studio system than Kaufman?
This November, the Afm unveils over 500 films in dozens of languages for prospective international buyers. They screen the majority of these new motion pictures at seven different screening venues in sunny Santa Monica. The Afm is the proud home for the smaller guys, foreign and art-house features and B- to Z-grade movies. Just about everything stars Michael Madsen, C. Thomas Howell and/or Billy Zane. Best of all, the number of genre films has increased substantially over the 11 years I’ve been coming here,...
This November, the Afm unveils over 500 films in dozens of languages for prospective international buyers. They screen the majority of these new motion pictures at seven different screening venues in sunny Santa Monica. The Afm is the proud home for the smaller guys, foreign and art-house features and B- to Z-grade movies. Just about everything stars Michael Madsen, C. Thomas Howell and/or Billy Zane. Best of all, the number of genre films has increased substantially over the 11 years I’ve been coming here,...
- 12/2/2008
- Fangoria
Danny Leiner, the man who showed us that both road trip movies and Neil Patrick Harris can be funny again with Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, signed a deal during Afm to bring us another bizarre comedy that will make horror fans stand up and moan: The Corporate Zombie Killers.
”Once in a lifetime, a script comes along which is beautiful, devastating and life-changing," Leiner told Screen Daily. "Tczk is none of those, but it is an amazingly hilarious, satirical and action-packed ride in the undying and often overlooked world of corporate zombies."
The story follows a gang of temps attempting to escape from an office park after the dead decide to come back to life and start feasting on the living. Leiner will be working on a script from Jim Biederman ("The Kids in the Hall") and John Plummer. We'll bring you more details as they're solidified!
-...
”Once in a lifetime, a script comes along which is beautiful, devastating and life-changing," Leiner told Screen Daily. "Tczk is none of those, but it is an amazingly hilarious, satirical and action-packed ride in the undying and often overlooked world of corporate zombies."
The story follows a gang of temps attempting to escape from an office park after the dead decide to come back to life and start feasting on the living. Leiner will be working on a script from Jim Biederman ("The Kids in the Hall") and John Plummer. We'll bring you more details as they're solidified!
-...
- 11/10/2008
- by Johnny Butane
- DreadCentral.com
It's no secret that we here at Quiet Earth love zombie flicks, in fact I watched the Scottish flick The Dead Outside just last night, so instead of breaking this down into single pieces of news we're going to cover it all at once.
First off, Danny Leiner (Harold and Kumar go to White Castle) is attached to direct a script (The Corporate Zombie Killers) penned by James Biederman and John Plummer which was picked up by La based Blowtorch. "The story tells of office temps battling a zombie outbreak in a corporate office park." There's no word on a start date, but the writers will be working alongside Leiner to develop the film.
Second is Silent Night, Zombie Night which is being done by Velvet Hammer films and begins shooting this December and supposedly it's getting fast tracked for an early 2009 theatrical release. "Director Sean Cain’s X-mas themed...
First off, Danny Leiner (Harold and Kumar go to White Castle) is attached to direct a script (The Corporate Zombie Killers) penned by James Biederman and John Plummer which was picked up by La based Blowtorch. "The story tells of office temps battling a zombie outbreak in a corporate office park." There's no word on a start date, but the writers will be working alongside Leiner to develop the film.
Second is Silent Night, Zombie Night which is being done by Velvet Hammer films and begins shooting this December and supposedly it's getting fast tracked for an early 2009 theatrical release. "Director Sean Cain’s X-mas themed...
- 11/8/2008
- QuietEarth.us
Another interesting announcement made this evening from the Afm is The Corporate Zombie Killers, which follows a group of temps that try to escape a corporate office park after an outbreak of a zombie virus. La-based Blowtorch has acquired James Biederman and John Plummer's horror comedy script and attached Danny Leiner of Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle fame to direct. "Once in a lifetime, a script comes along which is beautiful, devastating and life-changing," Leiner told Screen Daily. "Tczk is none of those, but it is an amazingly hilarious, satirical and action-packed ride in the undying and often overlooked world of corporate zombies."...
- 11/8/2008
- bloody-disgusting.com
- Looks like we are going to get tennis lessons this summer everyone. If Sony is gambling correctly, this purchase may result in a Judd Apatow crowd pleaser and if they get it wrong - think of that ping-pong forgettable flick from last year. Formerly going by the title of Gary the Tennis Coach, Sony Pictures Entertainment picked up North American rights to Danny Leiner's indie comedy Balls Out: The Gary Houseman Story. Written by Andy Stock and Rick Stempson, this centers on an overzealous high school janitor (Scott -see spitting image of Aaron Eckhart above) who takes on the task of coaching a group of lovable misfits to the Nebraska state championship, overcoming their motley backgrounds in the process. ...
- 2/12/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
BERLIN -- Before the fireworks, there always has to be a long slow-burning fuse, but after a slow start for this year's European Film Market, the wheeling and dealing exploded with some high-profile deals.
A brace of deals lit up the market with GreeneStreet Films due to announce a North American rights deal to Gary the Tennis Coach, directed by Danny Leiner and starring Seann William Scott and Randy Quaid to Sony Pictures. A bawdy high school comedy details the life of a janitor turned tennis coach.
And titles appearing in Competition here are also shifting off the shelves with Mike Leigh's "Happy-Go-Lucky" expected to go to Miramax Films in the six-figure range for U.S. rights. Leigh himself described his latest movie as a light hearted comedy drama.
Elsewhere, Berlinale Competition entry "Quiet Chaos" (Caos Calmo), directed by Antonello Grimaldi, has spread to nine territories ahead of its official screening Wednesday.
While Leigh's buzz title "Lucky" attracted a flurry of U.S. interest before its gala screening Tuesday "Quiet Chaos" (Caos Calmo), also ahead of its official screening Wednesday, is being sold by the production company's own sales entity Fandango Portobello Sales headed by Janine Gold. Deals struck include France (BAC), Spain (Alta), Benelux (Cineart), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Canada (Seville), Portugal (Midas), South Korea (Jin Jin), Brazil (Imovision) and Israel (Lev). "Chaos" is produced by Fandango's Domenico Procacci from a screenplay by Nanni Moretti, Lauro Paolucci and Francesca Piccolo. It is backed by RAI Cinema, Portobello Pictures and Phoenix Film Investment and details the story of a husband and father dealing with the immediate aftermath of the sudden death of his wife.
A brace of deals lit up the market with GreeneStreet Films due to announce a North American rights deal to Gary the Tennis Coach, directed by Danny Leiner and starring Seann William Scott and Randy Quaid to Sony Pictures. A bawdy high school comedy details the life of a janitor turned tennis coach.
And titles appearing in Competition here are also shifting off the shelves with Mike Leigh's "Happy-Go-Lucky" expected to go to Miramax Films in the six-figure range for U.S. rights. Leigh himself described his latest movie as a light hearted comedy drama.
Elsewhere, Berlinale Competition entry "Quiet Chaos" (Caos Calmo), directed by Antonello Grimaldi, has spread to nine territories ahead of its official screening Wednesday.
While Leigh's buzz title "Lucky" attracted a flurry of U.S. interest before its gala screening Tuesday "Quiet Chaos" (Caos Calmo), also ahead of its official screening Wednesday, is being sold by the production company's own sales entity Fandango Portobello Sales headed by Janine Gold. Deals struck include France (BAC), Spain (Alta), Benelux (Cineart), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Canada (Seville), Portugal (Midas), South Korea (Jin Jin), Brazil (Imovision) and Israel (Lev). "Chaos" is produced by Fandango's Domenico Procacci from a screenplay by Nanni Moretti, Lauro Paolucci and Francesca Piccolo. It is backed by RAI Cinema, Portobello Pictures and Phoenix Film Investment and details the story of a husband and father dealing with the immediate aftermath of the sudden death of his wife.
- 2/12/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- Randy Quaid is in final negotiations to star opposite Seann William Scott in O.N.C. Entertainment and GreeneStreet Films' comedy Gary the Tennis Coach. In Danny Leiner's feature, Quaid would play the coach who is a mentor and idol to Scott's inexperienced title character. The UTA-packaged film is slated to begin principal photography this month in Austin. Quaid recently portrayed King Carlos IV of Spain in Milos Forman's biopic Goya's Ghosts for Warner Bros. Pictures. He won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Lyndon Johnson in the 1987 telefilm LBJ: The Early Years.
- 10/12/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Columbia Pictures has attached Danny Leiner to direct the romantic comedy Fetch, which Jeff Lowell is writing and Neal Moritz is producing for his Original Film. Leiner most recently directed Great New Wonderful, a tale of five, interwoven stories set in New York in the wake of Sept. 11. The film, whose cast includes Maggie Gyllenhaal, Edie Falco, Tony Shalhoub and Olympia Dukakis, premiered at the recent Tribeca Film Festival. Leiner's other directing credits include Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and Dude, Where's My Car?...
The 2005 Tribeca Film Festival, founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, announced films in four competitive categories Wednesday. The festival, which runs April 19-May 1 in Lower Manhattan, will feature fictional films and documentaries in two categories, dubbed NY, NY Narrative Features and NY, NY Documentary Features. The fictional features, which range from dramas focusing on the effects of 9/11 to slapstick comedy and suburban tales, include: Adam & Steve, directed by Craig Chester; Alchemy, Evan Oppenheimer; Bittersweet Place, Alexandra Brodsky; Conventioneers, Mora Stephens; The F Word, Jed Weintrob; Four Lane Highway, Dylan McCormick; Great New Wonderful, Danny Leiner; Laura Smiles, Jason Ruscio; Life on the Ledge, Lewis Helfer; Love, Vladan Nikolic; Puzzlehead, James Bai; The Reception, John G. Young; Red Doors, Georgia Lee; Rockaway, Mark Street; Satellite, Jeff Winner; and Slingshot, Jay Alaimo.
- 3/10/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
LAS VEGAS -- If one were able to toss the American Pie trilogy, the John Hughes brat pack pictures and the Cheech & Chong screen oeuvre into a cultural blender and then press the pulse button a few times, the result would probably have the flavor and consistency of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, a blissfully silly, character-driven road movie with impressive laugh-per-minute performance specs.
Screened at the CineVegas Film Festival (and shown a day later at the Los Angeles Film Festival), this inspired entry in the generally languid stoner comedy genre is a comparative breath of fresh, if herb-scented, air.
Effectively carried by a pair of relative newcomers, the New Line release should satisfy the cravings of laugh-starved young-adult audiences and will likely hang around well past Labor Day.
Meanwhile, the folks at White Castle would be wise to ensure their burger inventories can withstand an inevitable late-summer onslaught from copycat customers.
Making like a multicultural Bill and Ted, Harold Lee (John Cho), a socially reserved, somewhat-anal accountant, and his outspoken, would-be med student roommate, Kumar Patel (Kal Penn), are, ahem, chronic overachievers when it comes to partaking of one of their favorite weekend activities.
Overcome with a particularly insistent case of the munchies while watching a seductive White Castle commercial, they rise to the challenge and embark on a nocturnal quest across the backwoods of New Jersey in search of the cute little burgers.
But the road to fast-food riches is paved with considerable peril in the form of potentially rabid raccoons, escaped cheetahs, corrupt cops, a boil-infested tow-truck driver named Freakshow (Christopher Meloni) and even a horny Doogie Howser (a funny Neil Patrick Harris).
Working from a lively script by rewrite specialists Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg that manages to find a place for animation, puppetry and some light CGI, director Danny Leiner keeps it all chugging agreeably forward, while his cast, which also includes cameos from Fred Willard, Anthony Anderson and Ryan Reynolds, join in the goofiness.
But it's Indian-American Penn, who is a welcome burst of comic energy, and Korean-American Cho, as his hapless foil, who keep the proceedings anchored in a real-world reality too-seldom represented in contemporary comedies. It's nice to see characters who are usually relegated to stock, stereotypical supporting roles finally allowed to carry the entire picture.
That alone is almost enough to forgive director Leiner for Dude, Where's My Car?
Maybe not.
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
New Line
New Line Cinema presents in association with Senator International
a Senator International/Kingsgate production in association with Endgame Entertainment
A film by Danny Leiner
Credits:
Director: Danny Leiner
Screenwriters: Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
Producers: Greg Shapiro, Nathan Kahane
Executive producers: J. David Brewington Jr., Luke Ryan, Joe Drake, Carsten Lorenz, Hanno Huth
Director of photography: Bruce Douglas Johnson
Production designer: Steve Rosenzweig
Editor: Jeff Betancourt
Music: David Kitay
Music supervisor: Dave Jordan
Casting: Cassandra Kulukundis.
Cast:
Kumar: Kal Penn
Harold: John Cho
Maria: Paula Garces
Himself: Neil Patrick Harris
Goldstein: David Krumholtz
Rosenberg: Eddie Kaye Thomas
Freakshow: Christopher Meloni
Male Nurse: Ryan Reynolds
Dr. Willoughby: Fred Willard
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 87 minutes...
Screened at the CineVegas Film Festival (and shown a day later at the Los Angeles Film Festival), this inspired entry in the generally languid stoner comedy genre is a comparative breath of fresh, if herb-scented, air.
Effectively carried by a pair of relative newcomers, the New Line release should satisfy the cravings of laugh-starved young-adult audiences and will likely hang around well past Labor Day.
Meanwhile, the folks at White Castle would be wise to ensure their burger inventories can withstand an inevitable late-summer onslaught from copycat customers.
Making like a multicultural Bill and Ted, Harold Lee (John Cho), a socially reserved, somewhat-anal accountant, and his outspoken, would-be med student roommate, Kumar Patel (Kal Penn), are, ahem, chronic overachievers when it comes to partaking of one of their favorite weekend activities.
Overcome with a particularly insistent case of the munchies while watching a seductive White Castle commercial, they rise to the challenge and embark on a nocturnal quest across the backwoods of New Jersey in search of the cute little burgers.
But the road to fast-food riches is paved with considerable peril in the form of potentially rabid raccoons, escaped cheetahs, corrupt cops, a boil-infested tow-truck driver named Freakshow (Christopher Meloni) and even a horny Doogie Howser (a funny Neil Patrick Harris).
Working from a lively script by rewrite specialists Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg that manages to find a place for animation, puppetry and some light CGI, director Danny Leiner keeps it all chugging agreeably forward, while his cast, which also includes cameos from Fred Willard, Anthony Anderson and Ryan Reynolds, join in the goofiness.
But it's Indian-American Penn, who is a welcome burst of comic energy, and Korean-American Cho, as his hapless foil, who keep the proceedings anchored in a real-world reality too-seldom represented in contemporary comedies. It's nice to see characters who are usually relegated to stock, stereotypical supporting roles finally allowed to carry the entire picture.
That alone is almost enough to forgive director Leiner for Dude, Where's My Car?
Maybe not.
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
New Line
New Line Cinema presents in association with Senator International
a Senator International/Kingsgate production in association with Endgame Entertainment
A film by Danny Leiner
Credits:
Director: Danny Leiner
Screenwriters: Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
Producers: Greg Shapiro, Nathan Kahane
Executive producers: J. David Brewington Jr., Luke Ryan, Joe Drake, Carsten Lorenz, Hanno Huth
Director of photography: Bruce Douglas Johnson
Production designer: Steve Rosenzweig
Editor: Jeff Betancourt
Music: David Kitay
Music supervisor: Dave Jordan
Casting: Cassandra Kulukundis.
Cast:
Kumar: Kal Penn
Harold: John Cho
Maria: Paula Garces
Himself: Neil Patrick Harris
Goldstein: David Krumholtz
Rosenberg: Eddie Kaye Thomas
Freakshow: Christopher Meloni
Male Nurse: Ryan Reynolds
Dr. Willoughby: Fred Willard
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 87 minutes...
- 8/26/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
LAS VEGAS -- If one were able to toss the "American Pie" trilogy, the John Hughes brat pack pictures and the "Cheech & Chong" screen oeuvre into a cultural blender and then press the pulse button a few times, the result would probably have the flavor and consistency of "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle," a blissfully silly, character-driven road movie with impressive laugh-per-minute performance specs.
Screened at the CineVegas Film Festival (and shown a day later at the Los Angeles Film Festival), this inspired entry in the generally languid stoner comedy genre is a comparative breath of fresh, if herb-scented, air.
Effectively carried by a pair of relative newcomers, the New Line release should satisfy the cravings of laugh-starved young-adult audiences and will likely hang around well past Labor Day.
Meanwhile, the folks at White Castle would be wise to ensure their burger inventories can withstand an inevitable late-summer onslaught from copycat customers.
Making like a multicultural Bill and Ted, Harold Lee (John Cho), a socially reserved, somewhat-anal accountant, and his outspoken, would-be med student roommate, Kumar Patel (Kal Penn), are, ahem, chronic overachievers when it comes to partaking of one of their favorite weekend activities.
Overcome with a particularly insistent case of the munchies while watching a seductive White Castle commercial, they rise to the challenge and embark on a nocturnal quest across the backwoods of New Jersey in search of the cute little burgers.
But the road to fast-food riches is paved with considerable peril in the form of potentially rabid raccoons, escaped cheetahs, corrupt cops, a boil-infested tow-truck driver named Freakshow (Christopher Meloni) and even a horny Doogie Howser (a funny Neil Patrick Harris).
Working from a lively script by rewrite specialists Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg that manages to find a place for animation, puppetry and some light CGI, director Danny Leiner keeps it all chugging agreeably forward, while his cast, which also includes cameos from Fred Willard, Anthony Anderson and Ryan Reynolds, join in the goofiness.
But it's Indian-American Penn, who is a welcome burst of comic energy, and Korean-American Cho, as his hapless foil, who keep the proceedings anchored in a real-world reality too-seldom represented in contemporary comedies. It's nice to see characters who are usually relegated to stock, stereotypical supporting roles finally allowed to carry the entire picture.
That alone is almost enough to forgive director Leiner for "Dude, Where's My Car?"
Maybe not.
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
New Line
New Line Cinema presents in association with Senator International
a Senator International/Kingsgate production in association with Endgame Entertainment
A film by Danny Leiner
Credits:
Director: Danny Leiner
Screenwriters: Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
Producers: Greg Shapiro, Nathan Kahane
Executive producers: J. David Brewington Jr., Luke Ryan, Joe Drake, Carsten Lorenz, Hanno Huth
Director of photography: Bruce Douglas Johnson
Production designer: Steve Rosenzweig
Editor: Jeff Betancourt
Music: David Kitay
Music supervisor: Dave Jordan
Casting: Cassandra Kulukundis.
Cast:
Kumar: Kal Penn
Harold: John Cho
Maria: Paula Garces
Himself: Neil Patrick Harris
Goldstein: David Krumholtz
Rosenberg: Eddie Kaye Thomas
Freakshow: Christopher Meloni
Male Nurse: Ryan Reynolds
Dr. Willoughby: Fred Willard
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 87 minutes...
Screened at the CineVegas Film Festival (and shown a day later at the Los Angeles Film Festival), this inspired entry in the generally languid stoner comedy genre is a comparative breath of fresh, if herb-scented, air.
Effectively carried by a pair of relative newcomers, the New Line release should satisfy the cravings of laugh-starved young-adult audiences and will likely hang around well past Labor Day.
Meanwhile, the folks at White Castle would be wise to ensure their burger inventories can withstand an inevitable late-summer onslaught from copycat customers.
Making like a multicultural Bill and Ted, Harold Lee (John Cho), a socially reserved, somewhat-anal accountant, and his outspoken, would-be med student roommate, Kumar Patel (Kal Penn), are, ahem, chronic overachievers when it comes to partaking of one of their favorite weekend activities.
Overcome with a particularly insistent case of the munchies while watching a seductive White Castle commercial, they rise to the challenge and embark on a nocturnal quest across the backwoods of New Jersey in search of the cute little burgers.
But the road to fast-food riches is paved with considerable peril in the form of potentially rabid raccoons, escaped cheetahs, corrupt cops, a boil-infested tow-truck driver named Freakshow (Christopher Meloni) and even a horny Doogie Howser (a funny Neil Patrick Harris).
Working from a lively script by rewrite specialists Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg that manages to find a place for animation, puppetry and some light CGI, director Danny Leiner keeps it all chugging agreeably forward, while his cast, which also includes cameos from Fred Willard, Anthony Anderson and Ryan Reynolds, join in the goofiness.
But it's Indian-American Penn, who is a welcome burst of comic energy, and Korean-American Cho, as his hapless foil, who keep the proceedings anchored in a real-world reality too-seldom represented in contemporary comedies. It's nice to see characters who are usually relegated to stock, stereotypical supporting roles finally allowed to carry the entire picture.
That alone is almost enough to forgive director Leiner for "Dude, Where's My Car?"
Maybe not.
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
New Line
New Line Cinema presents in association with Senator International
a Senator International/Kingsgate production in association with Endgame Entertainment
A film by Danny Leiner
Credits:
Director: Danny Leiner
Screenwriters: Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
Producers: Greg Shapiro, Nathan Kahane
Executive producers: J. David Brewington Jr., Luke Ryan, Joe Drake, Carsten Lorenz, Hanno Huth
Director of photography: Bruce Douglas Johnson
Production designer: Steve Rosenzweig
Editor: Jeff Betancourt
Music: David Kitay
Music supervisor: Dave Jordan
Casting: Cassandra Kulukundis.
Cast:
Kumar: Kal Penn
Harold: John Cho
Maria: Paula Garces
Himself: Neil Patrick Harris
Goldstein: David Krumholtz
Rosenberg: Eddie Kaye Thomas
Freakshow: Christopher Meloni
Male Nurse: Ryan Reynolds
Dr. Willoughby: Fred Willard
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 87 minutes...
- 6/21/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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