Directed by Todd Strauss- Schulson. Starring Kal Penn, John Cho, Neil Patrick Harris, Danneel Harris, Paula Garcés, Elias Koteas, Danny Trejo, Bobby Lee 18 cert, general release, 90 min

HUH? WHAT'S this 18 cert doing here? Sure, A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmasfeatures a baby doing cocaine and scampering around a ceiling, but where's the harm in that?

The harshness of the rating seems entirely at odds with the good-natured buffoonery of the Harold and Kumartrilogy, a goofy, surreal stoner franchise wherein the heroes ride a cheetah towards the fast food of their choice ( H&K Get The Munchies); George W Bush hides his stash from Dick Cheney ( H&K Escape from Guantanamo Bay); and out-and- proud legend Neil Patrick Harris plays "Neil Patrick Harris" ("NPH" to his friends), a slave to the crackpipe and "poontang".

The latest instalment of this stupidly funny franchise sees the Asian Cheech and Chong take on their greatest foe yet: the holiday season.

Harold (John Cho), now settled into a Wall Street gig and a swish suburban home with the lovely Maria (Paula Garcés), simply can't do enough Christmassy things to appease his intimidating father-in- law ( Machete's Danny Trejo in a snowman jumper). The family get-together is already going badly when Kumar (Kal Penn), Harold's pot-smoking, med-school-flunking mate, turns up with a mysterious package. Mayhem and claymation fantasy sequences ensue.

As a comedy, H&K3is right up there with its predecessors; straightworlders may wince at the swearing and drug use, but this property has always been smarter than it appears. The new film sets up racial profiling comedy schtick, only to explode the myths about diligent, hardworking Asians and badass, tattooed cholos.

We’ve recently seen what a proper film-maker like Martin Scorsese can do with 3D. But even his child’s-eye hyperrealism can’t quite compete with Todd Strauss-Schulson’s bells and whistles. Smoke rings float, eggs are pelted, and putty-sculpted male members are wielded in a film that knows exactly what 3D embellishment is for. Immersion is for saps. We want NPH right where nature intended: in our face.

"It makes Avatarlook Avatarded," bumbling Bobby Lee says. Quite.