Boasting the best movie title of the year, "Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay" starts off with a lot of good will.

Some of that goes up in smoke or just gets spaced out over the "White Castle" sequel's meandering. But then this unique combination of slob comedy and utterly gonzo political satire goes off on riffs so crazy and (sometimes) inventive that it almost gets you as high as its Korean- and Indian-American protagonists.

By the end - and especially because of the end - you'll feel pleasantly disposed to the prospect of another sequel. And how many broad comedies have that effect?

Starting pretty much a few hours after Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) got home from White Castle, the sequel takes off when, on a plane to their personal nirvana (i.e. Amsterdam), Kumar whips out a smokeless bong he's invented and their fellow passengers mistake it for a bomb.

Next thing we know, the pals are imprisoned at Guantanamo. Opportunities for Kafka-esque absurdity are wasted there, and our boys are soon on a raft with runaway Cubans.

First stop back home in the good ol' USA? A Miami mansion that's hosting a bottomless party. That's right: 30 or 40 lovely ladies all strutting around without pants. At this point, of course, the sequel goes far beyond the bounds of the original. From there, H&K have to make their way to Texas, where Kumar's ex-girlfriend and true love, Vanessa (Danneel Harris), is marrying a guy whose family connections in the Bush administration might be able to score them a pardon.

Along the winding way through Dixie, they're dogged by the stupidest NSA official ever appointed (Rob Corddry). Numeous diversions are also provided, courtesy of inbreds, Klansmen and an even more demented "Neil Patrick Harris" (Neil Patrick Harris) than in the first one.

But like I said, the best bit is saved until last. Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who wrote both H&Ks and make their directing debut on this one, may not have the boldest sense of topical humor. But their reluctance to offend gives their political gags such an unexpected spin that they play totally fresh. There was much angrier comedy to be made by a movie with "Guantanamo" in its title, but I'm not sure there was any funnier.

-- Bob Strauss, (818) 713-3670

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HAROLD & KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY
R: Nudity, sex, drug use, language, violence, racism.
Starring: Kal Penn, John Cho, Rob Corddry, Neil Patrick Harris, Danneel Harris, James Adomian.
Director: Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg.
Running time: 1 hr. 42 min.
Playing: Citywide.
In a nutshell: The model minority stoners get chased across a surreal South by racist Homeland Security forces. Hit-and-miss, but some of the hits are hilariously potent.