Netflix’s Coffee and Kareem – A Cringey Action Comedy

Some brands of humor should just go away, especially when it has been done to death and it’s no longer funny after watching it a million times (an exaggeration but you get the point). Netflix’s latest action comedy Coffee and Kareem, is the latest film offering stale and dated humor that may have worked 15 or so years ago but now is just incredibly cringe-worthy to watch over the course of its sub 90 minute running time. Arguably, the best part of the film is that short running time though for some, the film will feel much longer. Meanwhile, just like its humor, the story is also both thin and incredibly derivative. At the end of the day, most will surely find themselves in pain thanks to the truly god awful script that is unfunny and also offensive. Nevertheless, the film will surely still find an audience. It’s just not something worth flocking to right away.

Coffee and Kareem was a buddy cop story of sorts that saw a twelve-year-old boy named Kareem Manning (Gardenhigh) attempt to hire an escaped criminal to scare his mom Vanessa’s (Henson) boyfriend, a police offer named James Coffee (Helms). Things of course don’t go according to plan for Kareem because it wouldn’t be much of a film otherwise. The two would find themselves in the crosshairs of a ruthless Detroit kingpin named Orlando Johnson (RonReaco Lee). While the outcome is pretty much inevitable and predictable, the main point of the film was to unrelentingly play up the contrast between Coffee and Kareem in the most obnoxious and unfunny way possible. The parallels and the material here will be fairly obvious as Coffee was a bumbling police officer with no backbone while Kareem was an aspiring gangster who talked a big game. As the film relies heavily on these characters and their banter, it will live or die based on their likeability.

In terms of being an action comedy, Coffee and Kareem lacked balance while arguably leaning more towards comedy which was problematic at best. Besides Coffee and Kareem, Coffee had plenty of slightly better altercations, constantly getting put down by detective Linda Watts (Betty Gilpin). As a backdrop for all that unfunny banter was a throwaway convoluted conspiracy that only got increasingly ridiculous. Meanwhile, Vanessa did find a way to figure into the action though her role was criminally short. Despite this, she definitely made an impact. The action was also underwhelming in that there wasn’t all that much of it and what we did get was average at best and haphazardly shot (the film is surprisingly violent).

Coffee and Kareem may feature painful acting across the board though that wasn’t necessarily the actors’ fault as their commitment was definitely there but the film’s terrible script did not do them any favors. Helms should be applauded for trying, however, Coffee was a thin character, mostly serving as a punching bag, who simply was not funny whatsoever despite that. Gardenhigh as Kareem was obnoxious throughout, overwhelming scenes. Gilpin as Watts was arguably the most painful to watch as her caricaturish performance was just so disappointing to watch. While Henson as Vanessa was similar in a way, her energy was still somewhat entertaining to watch.

still courtesy of Netflix

If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook

Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.