Title: Coffee & Kareem
MPAA Rating: TV-MA
Director: Michael Dowse
Starring: Ed Helms, Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Little Gardenhigh
Runtime: 1 hr 28 mins

What It Is: When Vanessa (Henson) begins dating an Officer Coffee (Helms). This does not sit well with her teenage son Kareem (Gardenhigh). Who has a plan to utilize notorious rapper/drug dealer Orlando Johnson (RonReaco Lee) to scare the crap out of Coffee…or more. Meanwhile, Coffee is part of why Johnson is currently on the loose. This leads to a madcap dash to find Johnson and return him to justice…oh and maybe not die.

What We Think: This is absolute bottom barrel garbage. Ed Helms is never interesting and that continues here. Taraji P. Henson deserves better because she’s a goddess and a queen. Gardenhigh isn’t always an annoyance. Sometimes child protagonists ARE annoying on a consistent beat. He doesn’t have that going on. As for the plot, it’s a standard “bumbling idiot saves the day”. Rinse and repeat you know what this film is. There’s nothing here. It’s a hollow vessel of bad jokes and tired cliches. Betty Gilpin is lovely and wasted here in her role. Maybe see her in the much better The Hunt.

Our Grade: D, Some will find this brand of low-thought comedy an absolute riot. These people are the same ones you’ll find super digging That’s My Boy and graduating from junior high this year. This in a nutshell is a bad film. Made by a guy who made a decent buddy cop film in Stuber and a GREAT film in What If… this isn’t your fault! Was he held at gunpoint or something? Just not what I would’ve expected from Dowse. I know whatever he does next will be better than this thing. Skip this. There’s a ton of other stuff to watch on Netflix. Just pick almost anything else.