"Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay" would like to teach every one of us that racism is bad, that people do not live up to their stereotypes.

Except for Southerners. Southerners hold Ku Klux Klan rallies and keep their in-bred children in the basement. And Jews. Jews like money. And blacks are big and scary, even when they're orthodontists. And rich people are inherently evil.

Mere hypocrisy doesn't mean a comedy is useless. And one of the few jokes in "Harold & Kumar 2" that actually cause a smile is about hypocrisy. What makes this comedy useless is the fact that only a few jokes in it cause a smile.

John Cho and Kal Penn are back as bickering stoners Harold and Kumar, and the two are such appealing performers that they deserve better than this movie. Or perhaps they deserve this movie, if the movie were better.

Taking up almost immediately after the end of their last movie ("Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" -- a dud at the box office but at hit on DVD), this story begins with our happily hedonistic pair on their way to Amsterdam. Kumar, played by Penn, has smuggled a bong onto the plane, a frightened woman thinks he's a terrorist, some over-enthusiastic agents mishear "bong"' for "bomb" and the two are soon under arrest.

Surprisingly, this is actually the part of the movie that shows promise. But then the picture takes a turn toward the permanently unfunny with this scene: A black Homeland Security van pulls up, the doors open and out steps someone in a dark, official-looking suit. He opens his jacket and we see his gold badge. The camera pulls slowly up until it finally reveals the actor playing this role.

With an opening like this, we expect someone big. We expect Jack Nicholson or Bruce Willis or the pre-gubernatorial Arnold Schwarzenegger. And who do we get?

Rob Corddry. He was funny as a fake newsman, but is gifted neither as a comedian nor an actor. And he turns out to have a fairly major role, which he massacres. It wasn't funny, anyway, but the way he plays it guarantees an embarrassed silence in the audience.

Because of his character's racism, Harold and Kumar are sent to Guantanamo Bay, from which they quickly escape. That's the most surprising part of the story, and it's in the title. Then they head across the South, where they make a bunch of racist assumptions about everyone they meet, most of which turn out to be correct.

Co-writers/co-directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg hammer home their lessons as unsubtly as an afterschool special, including a few painful stabs at political commentary. Once again, Neil Patrick Harris cheerfully shreds his career for a few laughs, but by the time they throw in George Bush-imitator James Adomian, they are merely showing their desperation.

Of course, the presumed audience for this and other stoner comedies is supposed to be fairly well baked. To them, "H&KEFGB" is probably hilarious.

Then again, so is the phone book.