Deck the halls with bowls of doobie…’Tis the season to be groovy.  And if you’re in the mood to pass up the frankincense and myrrh for something with a bit more kick, then A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas is for you.  And because they love you, it’s coming out before Thanksgiving, so you can…relax a bit before the family gatherings.

It’s been six years since Harold Lee and Kumar Patel got their Guantanamo on, and as is the case with many college friendships, they’ve gone their separate ways.  Harold is a Wall Street suit, all clean, sober and pulling major bucks, with a hot wife and killer house.  Kumar?  Well, Kumar failed a drug test and now spends his time hashing things out.  Literally.  But Christmastime comes only once a year, and this time they get surprises for the holidays; Harold gets his wife’s entire family crashing his pad, and Kumar finds out he’s gonna be a poppa.  With Harold’s in-laws bringing a homegrown tree and Kumar trying to sober up long enough to figure out what’s going on in his life, the two are brought together again when a mysterious package for Harold shows up at Kumar’s apartment.  (Yeah, while Harold has moved on up and out, Kumar hasn’t moved in the last six years.)  Oh, and you know they’re gonna run into Neil Patrick Harris again, right?  If that’s a spoiler for you, you haven’t been paying attention to the commercials that have been running on every cool cable station in creation.  Can the dudes save Christmas?  Does Santa smoke weed?  Okay fine, I’ll just say those questions are both answered by the end of this film.

John Cho and Kal Penn reprise their roles as Harold and Kumar like no time has passed since the last time we saw these hapless stoners.  Though the laughs aren’t as juvenile as the first two movies, it’s still a hilarious ride for anyone who things farts and boobies are funny.  And if you don’t think farts and boobies are funny, I don’t wanna know you.  That’s comedy gold, folks.  Danny Trejo (Machete) plays Harold’s Father-In-Law from Hell and obviously enjoys making fun of being a badass.  And once again, Neil Patrick Harris plays himself, as channeled by the lovechild of Barney Stinson and that crackhead down the street.

Oh, I didn’t mention that this one isn’t for the kiddies…are you kidding me?  If you have to wonder if you can bring your kids to this film, you should be smacked upside the head.  This movie is a soft R for sex and violence, but a very strong R for drug use and language.  So yeah, you bring your kids to this one and they’ll end up as tweaked as the coke & ecstasy filled toddler in this movie.  A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas will never, ever make it onto anyone’s best parenting advice list, but that’s the point.  This movie is so over the top that it goes from hilarious to obscenely inappropriate, right back to hilarious again.  As with horror movies that OD on gore effects, this movie overdoes the shock humor to the point where it’s so outrageous you could never take it serious.  Tada, back to hilarity.

Jon Hurwitz continues his writing gig for H&K on this latest installment, and it’s just as crazy and cranked as the first two.  There’s even a shout-out to White Castle for die-hard fans.  Todd Strauss-Schulson picks up the directing reins and keeps the action moving while delivering a movie that you don’t have to race along to follow.  The 3D isn’t 100% necessary for the plot of the film, but there are plenty of well-done 3D effects that make the extra moolah you could have used to stave off the munchies well spent.  Harold & Kumar poke fun at Christmas commercialism (the WaffleBot, a robot that makes waffles!), religion (let’s just say it seems nuns take symbolism very seriously), the Russian mafia (nice trick, that) and parenthood (see: tweaked out toddler).  A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas is sure to be a frat-house holiday tradition for years to come.  The only problem?  Now I want a WaffleBot.