Borat and Jackass Number Two have been (rightly, if amusingly) getting from critics’ groups in their year-end handouts — the latter at least in the voting if not the actual final awards — made me glancingly reflect back on the charms of 2004’s Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle.

From Kal Penn (above, left) and John Cho’s perfectly pitched performances and Neil Patrick Harris’ brilliant cameo as himself to some of the wickedly zonked dialogue (“Shotgun anus!”) and that inspired fantasy sequence involving a giant bag of weed, Harold & Kumar ranks as one of the best willfully “dumb,” smoke-’em-if-you-got-’em comedies of the past decade. Sure it hits all the requisite beats, but it also puts a fresh, frequently anarchic twist on things, which more movies could stand to learn from. Here’s hoping that long-gestating sequel eventually gets off the ground.