8A - Monday, November 7, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
BA - Monday, November 7, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michiganduilycom
FILM REVIEW
Series getting blunt
ALBUM REVIEW
Wale gets too ambitious
Only NPH brings
it in 'Harold and
Kumar' threequel
By AKSHAY SETH
DailyArts Writer
There has and always will be
something magical about watch-
ing people get baked on screen
and then do
something ***
intensely stu-
pid. Why? The AVery
answer has alot Harold and
to do with the
fact that many Kumar 3D
of us know Christmas
the feeling
and can relate. At Quality16
And even if it's and Rave
crappy reality
TV, the ability WarnerBros:
to relate allows
for a connection with the audi-
ence despite the utter stupidity
or inanity of the content.
Some of the greatest stoner
flicks, like "The Big Lebowski"
and "Dazed and Confused," were
grounded by the implausibil-
ity of every major plot develop-
ment. Underlying themes of the
struggle to confront immaturity
and obscurity added the per-
sonal touch' that made the films
worthwhile. Falling within these
expected bounds is "A Very Har-
old and Kumar 3D Christmas,"
the latest in a franchise that has
now spanned eight years.
In those eight years, nothing
in particular has changed except
the age of the two leads. The
movie still features an assorted
selection of racial jokes, sexual
innuendo, rampant drug use and,
of course, Neil Patrick Harris
(TV's "HowI Met Your Mother").
That's not to saythat anything
about this movie is predictable.
Viewers still get to experience
the same "WTF" moments from
"Santa-suit up."
the first two movies, all stem-
ming from the worst kind of deci-
sion-making possible. The jokes,
no matter how crude in taste they
may be, are still hilarious.
But what made the first movie
more than just another funny
stoner comedy was the way it
questioned racial stereotypes.
Harold (John Cho, "Star Trek")
and Kumar (Kal Penn, "The
Namesake") are still very likable
characters,butbynowtheir antics
are so identifiable that it's notsur-
prising to seethem responsible for
so much drug-induced mayhem.
The mayhem here ensues
when Kumar accidentally burns
down the 12-foot Douglas fir tree
grown by Harold's Christmas-
obsessed father-in-law (Danny
Trejo, "Machete"). The rest of
the movie is spent trying to find
a replacement tree before the
father-in-law returns from mid-
night mass on Christmas Eve.
Along for the ride are Adrian
(CollegeHumor's Amir Blumen-
feld), Todd (Thomas Lennon,
TV's "Reno 911") and Todd's five-
year-old daughter Caren (new-
comer Isabella Gielniak) who, as
the film progresses, gets exposed
to marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy
and other drugs.
At times, the convoluted
nature of the plot, which also
involves Ukranian mobsters
and Santa Claus, takes the edge
away from what could have been
the funniest jokes of the movie.
Though the humor is as vulgar
as it's ever been, it doesn't catch
the audience off guard because
too much time is spent thinking
about all the stupid little details
that make the storyline function.
The one performance that
brings excitement to the screen is
Harris's, who reappears as the fic-
tionalized sex- and drug-crazed
version of himself. The thing that
elevates his character is that he's
erratic. Because the dramatized
NPH is capable of every imagin-
able monstrosity, the audience
can never really tell what insane
thing he'll think of next.
Unfortunately, the same can't
be said for Harold and Kumar,
who, like this movie, end up
being funny but are all too lost
within unoriginal, unnecessary
character details.
By EMMA GASE
Daily Music Editor
There are a few key takeaways
from Wale's sophomore album,
Ambition, that allow for a tidy
synthesis of his
message. One,
for the sake of
being obvious, Wale
is that he is
from Washing- Ambition
ton, D.C. (If you Maybach Music
haven't figured
this out from
Attention: Deficit, please see an
audiologist). The second is that
he really, really loves women. A
third is that he wasn't famous,
and now he is. And perhaps the
most resounding of all: Wale
has recently made quite a lot of
money.
After Attention: Deficit stoked
the flames of Wale's hype (per-
haps prematurely) he more-
or-less dropped off the map.
Ambition does little to restore
the same interest in the Capi-
tol's emcee. His flow is at times
disappointingly arid (think blase
luxury car references, excessive
braggadocio involving female
consorts), and his bottom-shelf
beats are doused in lethargic
R&B instrumentals and convo-
luted backing tracks.
At its worst, Ambition is wan
and directionless. "No Days
Off" is a repetitive, synthesizer-
heavy dirge with no hook and a
trite chorus: "No days off / No
days off/ Heard they comin' for
a nigga / Bitch, I'm Ray Charles."
The portentous melody blindly
circles itself until the drone liter-
ally becomes a piercing strain to
the ear.
To be fair, there are some aus-
picious moments. Leadoff track
"Don't Hold Your Applause" has
a jazzy piano riff, treble fills and
sensual female vocals. Wale's
quick-tempo verses almost trip
over the count, but they hang
tight on the backbeat. "Miami
MAY BACF(MUSIC
"Hey, everyone - it's pronounced Wale, not Wall-E!"
Nights" has a meaty arrange- abundant platitudes concern-
ment that rides on staccato horns ing post-Hennessey fornication.
and calls to mind the old-school Nope, the most irksome part is
"chipmunk soul" of College Drop- the female robot baying "May-
out-era Kanye West. bach music" bookending almost
It's hard to think of what's every track. Yes, Wale, you are
worse: superficial humility from signed to Rick Ross's Maybach
an overconfident yet success- Music Group. Granted, rap-
ful rapper or an unproven, smug pers like to rep their labels (like
Young Money ... often), but this
takes gratitude from charm-
' bitio ' isn't ingly loyal to downright irritat-
ing. Rick Ross plays the doting
everything Daddy Warbucks, as he hounds
the album with guest spots on
probably a third of the album, un-
credited and otherwise.
rapper prematurely arrogant In this rising crop of rappers
from his rather limited sip of looking to be the next self-con-
fame. Wale wades somewhere scious-yet-douchebaggy-Every-
in between these two inclina- bro, the cream is beginning to
tions. For a relatively successful rise to the top (J. Cole, Drake) -
guy, Wale sure finds a lot to com- and Ambition does little to buoy
plain about. He whines about the Wale's chances. Per usual with
travesties of shopping in public many rappers who have garnered
("I ain't finna wait in line!"). He any semblance of mainstream
spouts offensive epithets about recognition, Wale's lyrics have
his haters ("What the fuck are morphed from sharp, self-aware
you, retarded?"). He plays the witticisms to sterile invectives
hopeless romantic ("Let's roll a J detailing his rise to fame (with
and pretend we in love"). He even the occasional sports reference).
offers up some advice about per- Ambition may be rife with
sonal hygiene ("Yo bitches should hard-to-relate-to truisms, but
buy a loofah!"). mostly it stinks of pure, over-
But the most annoying thing blown confidence: "I deserve
about entire record isn't the praise / I deserve applause." Not
listless R&B burners or Wale's quite,'Wale.
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