Search results
Apr 3, 2020 · Written by Shane Mack, “Coffee & Kareem” pairs up a dopey cop named Coffee and a 12-year-old wise-cracking kid named Kareem (Terrence Little Gardenhigh). Kareem acts like a wannabe comedy superstar stuffed into a preteen's body, and that includes the way he delivers a raunchy poem in his class that crudely sexualizes his teacher.
Watch Coffee & Kareem with a subscription on Netflix. An awkward blend of kid-friendly premise and thoroughly adult humor, Coffee & Kareem proves a distinctly unarresting odd couple comedy.
- (72)
- Ed Helms
- Michael Dowse
- Pacific Electric Picture Company
- Cop and a Laugh.
- Coffee & Kareem Gallery
- Verdict
By Matt Fowler
Posted: Apr 3, 2020 7:00 am
Coffee & Kareem debuts Friday, April 3 on Netflix.
Despite having a title that sounds like a fake Tracy Jordan 30 Rock movie, Coffee & Kareem -- which pairs Ed Helms' straight-laced cop with a foul-mouth 12-year-old -- is a solid, raunchy action-comedy that serves as perfect tight 90-minute escapism.
Director Michael Dowse brings a lot of the faced-paced wit and gunfire that he delivered in Stuber, with actual better results than Stuber. In fact, Stuber and Coffee & Kareem have a ton in common. It just so happens that the formula works a bit better when someone's screaming at Ed Helms and not Kumail Nanjiani.
Is Helms playing anything outside of his comfort zone here? Nope. He's right at home, playing the type of character you'd expect him to. Have we seen abrasive, cussing tweens accuse adults of wanting to molest them before? Sure have. 2008's Role Models springs to mind, first and foremost. But just because Coffee & Kareem has a few "stitched together" elements, doesn't mean it doesn't work overall. It's smartly short, packing in a very simple story that's filled with some pretty good jokes.
Helms plays Detroit cop/Hall & Oates fan James Coffee. Coffee's dating a single working mom (Taraji P. Henson) whose son, Kareem (Terrence Little Gardenhigh), hates his possible future stepdad so much that he makes a play to pay a local gangster to beat him up. Gardenhigh is a great find. This flick has super raunchy dialogue so it was imperative to find a child actor who can perfectly play Kareem and find that balance between annoying and funny. Without a good kid in the part, you run a serious risk of pushing the audience away from the (albeit, small) heart of the story.
Helms, while playing to the familiar, is still able to shine in key moments. One particular interrogation scene, midway through the film, springs to mind, as Coffee attempts to take advice from Kareem about how to intimidate others. Again, the movie doesn't offer up anything particularly new, but it does have some gems buried within.
The small supporting cast -- Betty Gilpin, RonReaco Lee, Andrew Bachelor, and David Alan Grier -- also help liven up the tropes. As Coffee's workplace "alpha" nemesis, Gilpin gets to stretch her comedic prowess like crazy, delivering a whirlwind of cackles. And the film's villains have a very fun rapport that almost reminds one of Elmore Leonard's knack for writing super-smart dumbasses.
After Coffee's framed for murder and kidnapping, everyone involved gets targeted for death. Henson, for her part, was made for this type of part. As Kareem's mom, Vanessa, she not only has to react with confounded fury when the man she's seeing returns home with her son and there's an Amber Alert out naming both of them, but also be able to elevate the "damsel in distress" cliche as a character who's more than capable of carrying herself in a fight.
Coffee & Kareem keeps it simple, short, and to the (ultra) violent point as a raunchy cop comedy with clever jokes, zany action, and fun chemistry between leads Ed Helms and young Terrence Little Gardenhigh. It's a small cast but everyone in it is pretty funny, and the director easily knows how to craft a compelling mismatched partner scenario.
If you buy something through this post, IGN may get a share of the sale. For more, learn more.
Apr 2, 2020 · Kareem calls cops “pigs” and makes cracks about the racial dynamics between both him and Coffee, and Coffee and his mother. The buddy cop movie genre is by all means worth interrogating as ...
- Michael Dowse
Coffee & Kareem is a 2020 American action comedy film directed by Michael Dowse and written by Shane Mack. It stars Ed Helms, Terrence Little Gardenhigh, Betty Gilpin, RonReaco Lee, Andrew Bachelor, David Alan Grier and Taraji P. Henson, and follows a bumbling Detroit cop who must rescue his girlfriend and her 12-year-old son from gangsters ...
Apr 3, 2020 · Netflix’s Coffee & Kareem is hard-R comedy with a kid’s sense of humor. Ed Helms and Taraji P. Henson star in this bloody buddy comedy
People also ask
Is Coffee & Kareem a good movie?
Is Coffee & Kareem a Stuber?
Where can I Watch Coffee & Kareem?
What is Coffee & Kareem about?
Apr 3, 2020 · Coffee & Kareem Review: Netflix's Buddy Comedy Has An Identity Problem. By Sandy Schaefer. Published Apr 3, 2020. Slapdash to a fault, Coffee & Kareem is an irreverent time-waster that can't make up its mind about whether it's sophomoric or subversive.
