With current pandemic going on all around the world streaming is at an all time high. Netflix subscriptions have skyrocketed and new releases are increasing day by day. In the middle of self isolation and streaming comes a new Netflix Original Comedy Coffee and Kareem.

Police officer James Coffee (Ed Helms) is enjoying his new relationship with Vanessa Manning (Taraji P Henson). Vanessa’s wannabe rapper son Kareem (Terrence Little Gardenhigh) wants to break them up by scaring James away. Kareem wants to hire Orlando Johnson (RonReaco Lee) to take him out but accidentally ends up exposing a secret network of criminal activity involving drugs, murder and dirty cops. This makes Kareem’s family the latest target and he teams up with James Coffee for a dangerous trip across Detroit trying to stay alive.

With a short runtime of 88 minutes Coffee and Kareem is very fast paced but does that mean it is any good? Unfortunately for a Comedy this movie isn’t very funny, there were moments that my give you a little chuckle but the humor is way too adult for what could easily be a child friendly premise. Although there are stellar performances from Ed Helms, Terrence Little and Betty Giplin the characters are in no way likable at all. Gardenhigh’s Karrem is talking and rapping about adult themes at the age of 12 and this does not make for an interesting or funny character. Kareem is just annoying and hearing this character talk about sex and swearing just feels like the kind of humor you’d see in South Park which just isn’t funny. Ed Helms is a producer on this movie and although he does a great job he is doing another typical Ed Helms role we see in the likes of The Hangover and We’re The Millers but he is still the comedic backbone of Coffee and Kareem. The movie under uses Taraji P Henson which could have been much better if she wasn’t just written as James Coffee’s girlfriend. This movie feels like a mixture of Identity Thief and Ride Along but fails to have the charm that those movie have. Coffee and Kareem may not be everyone’s cup of tea but it’s definitely not the sweetest mixture in the world.

Rating: 1.5/5