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An awkward blend of kid-friendly premise and thoroughly adult humor, Coffee & Kareem proves a distinctly unarresting odd couple comedy. A 12-year-old's scheme to scare away his mom's new boyfriend ...
- (185)
- Ed Helms
- Michael Dowse
- Pacific Electric Picture Company
Apr 3, 2020 · Coffee & Kareem. Let’s set one thing straight: “ Stuber ” was a good movie. Yes, the title for that 2019 action-comedy with Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista was silly, but that was part of its self-deprecating approach to cop comedies and knowing product placement. With its slapstick-y action sequences and potently mismatched duo ...
Apr 3, 2020 · Incompetent cop John Coffee (Ed Helms) is dating single mother Vanessa (Taraji P Henson), much to the annoyance of her son Kareem (Terrence Little Gardenhigh), who is forced to spend time with him ...
- Benjamin Lee
- 3 min
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Apr 3, 2020 · Coffee & Kareem: Directed by Michael Dowse. With Ed Helms, Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Little Gardenhigh, Betty Gilpin. Twelve-year-old Kareem Manning hires a criminal to scare his mom's new boyfriend -police officer James Coffee - but it backfires, forcing Coffee and Kareem to team up in order to save themselves from Detroit's most ruthless drug kingpin.
- (14K)
- Action, Comedy, Crime
- Michael Dowse
- 2020-04-03
- 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.
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Apr 3, 2020 · Netflix. A tone-deaf attempt to recreate the nasty comic vibe people associate with certain ’80s buddy cop films, Michael Dowse’s Coffee & Kareem names a key character for director Walter Hill ...
Coffee & Kareem is a film that consistently takes the low road with no regard for the potholes it finds along the way. Full Review | Feb 17, 2021 Jason Fraley WTOP (Washington, D.C.)
