Coffee & Kareem Review

The numerous attempts that writer Shane Mack and director Michael Dowse make at chaotic and abrasive humour in their new cop comedy Coffee & Kareem too often results in being an irritating and uninspired shell of what it's attempting to achieve. The pointless plot and messy script prove to be too much of a burden for even a comedy that establishes its low standards as early as Coffee & Kareem. A film that so desperately tries to shoehorn in shock comedy and raunchy one-liners with such little setup that it eventually saps the faint amount of appeal that's produced throughout by its cast. Some moments in the movie may generate a laugh or two, but Coffee & Kareem is ultimately too unoriginal to be significant and too unamusing to come off as endearing.

Coffee & Kareem follows James Coffee, a Detroit police officer who isn't very good at his job and finds himself at the bottom of his coworkers' food chain. Though James isn't the best cop, he finds happiness in his new relationship with a woman named Vanessa. However, Vanessa's 12-year-old son Kareem isn't a fan of the pair being together. As Kareem attempts to scare James out of the lives of him and his mother forever, he accidentally uncovers a secret network of criminal activity, forcing James and Kareem to work together.

The disjointed approach to many elements of Coffee & Kareem makes it's difficult to distinguish the memorability or lasting appeal of a film that comes off as messy as it does. The filmmaking is too drab to be impressionable, and the writing is consistently childish and straightforward. The only notable successes that the film creates are associated with the energetic performances given by Ed Helms and Terrence Little Gardenhigh. Still, even their efforts eventually become dull due to the lack of solid writing.

Overall, the few laughs that the film may catch you off guard with do not justify the astonishing number of failed attempts that it makes. Coffee & Kareem's lacklustre efforts leave it impossible not to wonder how - or even why - this film was made.

A generic story, bland execution, and substandard comedic writing make Coffee & Kareem a skippable straight-to-streaming feature.

Produced By: Netflix
Runtime: 88 minutes
Rating: NA