"B+, if seen while stoned or in the presence of a high school or college kid" "B-, if seen solely with adults"

Clearly, there was no way on earth that I was going to see "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay" without taking my 16 year old Saudi exchange student, "Z." For the same reasons that you never go on a long road trip without a spare tire in the trunk, I needed to make sure I watched this movie with at least one person who would enjoy it.

But alas, my worries were misplaced. Did every joke work? Nope, not by a long shot. Was it occasionally raunchy and juvenile? Absolutely. But was it raw, frequently funny and occasionally politically relevant? Without a doubt.

While I can't say that I shared "Z's" overall enthusiasm ("Bob, this was a superior film!"), I must admit that I had a rollicking good time. After all, who else but the hapless Harold and Kumar could land in Guantanamo Bay courtesy of Homeland Security because of an unfortunate decision to smuggle a bong to an airplane that was tragically mistaken for a bomb!

Wrongly accused of being terrorists, the rest of the film has our stoner duo trying to escape the clutches of the American Government while they try to clear their name. The weakest part of this satirical farce is found with Rob Corddry's hammy and utterly one-dimensional performance as the acting head of Homeland Security. He more often than not resembled the Snidely Whiplash character from the "Bullwinkle and Rocky" Cartoon series.

In addition, the scenes of our boys brief stay in Guantanamo are uninspired and cliché ridden. Quite frankly, it was at that moment in the movie that I was left wondering how much longer I had to sit and endure this seemingly juvenile catastrophe.

But once the boys escape and hit the road, the movie found its mojo and pretty much hit on all cylinders. In particular, their encounter with the incomparable Neil Patrick Harris (playing himself) and their subsequent trip to a Southern Bordello was screamingly funny.

Finally, while I don't want to give anything away, the movie was worth seeing solely for the hysterical sequence where Harold and Kumar accidentally parachute into the Crawford, Texas home of President Bush. Their conversation with the President while smoking pot with him in his study is the stuff of movie legend!

So go rent some high school or college kid, disguise your identity and go see "Harold & Kumar." I can only confess that since I failed to see the original one, I now am cursed with the realization that my cinematic life will not be complete without doing so.