Coffee & Kareem: Netflix movie is even worse (much worse) than the pun in its title

By Liam Lacey

Rating: C

When social behaviour starts to feel locked down and restrictive, it should be an ideal time for a good gross-out comedy. If only Coffee & Kareem, which streams on Netflix starting today, could fill that bill.  

Directed by Canada's Michael Dowse (Goon, FUBAR) from a script by Shane Mack, the movie is a deliberately tone-deaf homage to ‘80s interracial buddy-crime moves like Beverly Hills Cop or Lethal Weapon, with Oedipal overtones. 

Ed Helms and Terrence Little Gardenhigh are a cop and his little gangsta pal who learn to work together.

Kareem (Terrence Little Gardenhigh), is a chubby foul-mouthed rap-loving fifth-grader, who is  enraged that James Coffee (Ed Helms), a milquetoast white cop, is sleeping with his  mom., Vanessa (Taraji P. Henson).  One afternoon, when Kareem requests that Coffee pick him up from school, his plan is to have the cop killed by a local drug lord (RonReaco Lee). Instead, they witness the murder of a corrupt officer, which kicks off a series of absurd escapades, as Coffee and Kareem are chased by dirty cops and drug dealers.

Racing around the night streets of Detroit (played by Vancouver), the cop and brat bicker, the dialogue is a fusillade of jokes about white-on-black police shootings, pedophilia and homophobic panic. Kareem schools James in fronting as  "aggressively gay" in confrontations, with lots of references to man-on-man sex and dominance. While talented child actor Gardenhigh spouts dialogue filled with talk of p---- and a--holes, Helms announces how outrageous all this is. 

Taraji P. Henson gets little screen time considering her billing, while David Alan Grier, has a couple of moments. Betty Gilpin (The Hunt, GLOW), as Coffee's emasculating boss, turns it up from mean to maniacal in the movie's chaotic third act. Clocking in at a brisk 88 minutes, Coffee & Creme doesn't provide much comic relief, though it is a relief when it's over.  

Coffee and Kareem. Starring Ed Helms, Terrence Little Gardenhigh, Betty Gilpin and Taraji P Henson. Coffee and Kareem is available on Netflix.