A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas

Is a third film in the Harold and Kumar franchise an attempt to cash in one more time before its protagonists get too old? Or is it a last-ditch effort to finally make something truly funny from the concept?

Early on in A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas, the answer becomes clear, as the same low-brow stoner jokes and sex gags are trotted out and thrown into a vaguely holiday-themed story about lifelong friendships and missing trees.

If it’s possible, the premise feels even more contrived than Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, which was the first follow-up to the low-budget 2004 hit Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.

As this installment opens, Harold (John Cho) is married and living a comfortable suburban life with his wife, Maria (Paula Garces), but dreading a visit from his in-laws for the holidays.

It’s been years since he has seen Kumar (Kal Penn), his old college buddy who is still living the life of a unemployed stoner. But when Kumar returns to deliver a mysterious package, it winds up burning down the beloved Christmas tree of Harold’s father-in-law (Danny Trejo) causes the pair to reunite for a wild night of misadventures.

Director Todd Strauss-Schulson, making his feature debut, tries to maximize the 3D effects (he really likes characters blowing smoke directly into the camera — lots of times) and otherwise doesn’t have much of a feel for pacing or comic momentum.

Screenwriters Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who also penned the first two films and directed the second one, resort to tired self-referential in-jokes for fans and toss in some subplots (including one with Elias Koteas as a mob boss who spoils a Christmas party) that seem to only function as padding to an already-thin running time.

Neil Patrick Harris returns, of course, to spice up the proceedings with his obligatory raunchy cameo as himself. Yet the other amusing moments in the film — including one involving a waffle-making robot — are desperately repeated to the point of tedium.

Seven years after the original film, it’s difficult to gauge if there’s enough hardcore fan interest left in these two characters to generate the type of box-office returns the film seeks. Either way, an idea that wasn’t very funny to begin with is now clearly running on fumes.

Rated R, 89 minutes.