Two bright guys with promising futures submit to immaturity to keep them in a perpetual state of arrested development. Sound familiar? At least a few dozen other slacker-stoner comedies have created variations on the simple formula, but perhaps none had the sleeper hit status of 2004’s Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. Naturally when one is riding high (no pun intended) from such unanticipated home video success, the only logical thing to do is spurn out a sequel; thus was born the slightly superfluous Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.

Picking up mere moments after the first one left off, Harold Lee (John Cho) and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn) scramble to make a flight, following their neighbor Maria (Paula Garces) to Amsterdam. After causing a bit of a stink at the airport, the guys get suspected of being terrorists on the plane when an overly concerned passenger hears them say “bomb” instead of “bong.” Things only take a turn for the even more absurd (if that’s possible!) from there when they escape from Guantanamo Bay, encounter a tripped-out NPH and detour to try to break up a wedding. Laughs are shared, but much of the film, including a moment with a foreign hick and his too-attractive-to-be-attracted-to-him wife, feels ripped straight out of the original, begging the question of why another version was necessary.

The answer to that may come in the way of supporting characters Vanessa Fanning and Colton Graham (Danneel Harris and Eric Winter, respectively), though, whose characters have histories with both boys and who take center focus (even if not a lot of screen-time). While Kumar struggles to win Vanessa back, Harold just wants Colton’s important political ties to help get exonerated. Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, therefore, very quickly transitions from a road trip comedy (as the title suggests) to one of a very different variety: a romantic comedy. The problem is that none of the male/female pairings have the strong chemistry audiences have come to expect from a Harold & Kumar movie when compared to the incredible buddy relationship of the title’s lead stars. Winter is supposed to be a villain, which is blatantly obvious when he gives his fiancée a lecture of her found joint, but his slick suits, perfect bone structure and wide smile make it hard to even dislike the guy, especially considering his character has his act together. Oddly, viewers may find themselves looking at Harold and Kumar in a new light with this film: they are not carefree kids who can afford to mess around, but rather they are adults with responsibilities, and when they don’t act accordingly, it’s hard to find them sympathetic.

Co-writers-turned-directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg certainly banked on the original film’s largest draw: NPH (I’m sorry, it just feels wrong to call Neil Patrick Harris by his full name now), resurrecting a slightly self-deprecating version of himself to plant butts in seats this second-chance time around. In Escape from Guantanamo Bay, it feels like all of their energy went towards giving him something new and outlandish to do, while the rest of the film relied on fart jokes and clouds of smoke. At times viewers may even find themselves just waiting for his arrival on-screen and breathing a hefty sigh of relief once he finally is. Unfortunately, his mere moments come to an end far too quickly, and then audiences are left with almost an hour of bleakosity to get through to the end.

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay offers a wide variety of extras on its 2-disc, unrated special edition DVD (New Line Home Entertainment, MSRP: $34.99), probably assuming once again its greatest audience will be the home viewer. And said audience will certainly not be disappointed with the selection. “Dude, Change The Movie!” is easily the most fascinating extra, as the interactive feature allows the home viewer to select from alternative scenes to change the sequence of events within the feature. Reminiscent of one of those Choose Your Own Adventure childhood books, this feature is simple enough that even the most baked viewers (and let’s face it, it appears the directors assumed most would be) can take part and offers many possible paths.

There are also two optional commentaries with words from both directors, as well as the inspiration behind John Cho’s character and the movie’s George W. Bush impersonator, James Adomian, during one of the tracks. Adomian also appears in his own special feature, Bush PSA. “The World of Harold and Kumar” is a fun-filled behind-the-scenes featurette, and there are an astounding 27 deleted scenes from which to choose. All of the above make Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay worth a look on DVD, if for no other reason than to check out its bonus footage--and, of course, NPH.

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay is now available on DVD.