Black List Crime Comedy 'Coffee And Kareem' Recruits Ed Helms And Taraji P. Henson At Netflix

Every year the Black List names the best unproduced screenplays that are still being kicked around Hollywood, just waiting for a greenlight to go into production. One of the scripts that made the cut on the lower end of the list in 2014 was a crime comedy called Coffee and Kareem that teams up a cop with his girlfriend's kid (for some reason) to help take down a ruthless drug lord. Now the project has a home at Netflix and a surprising comedic duo to lead it.

Ed Helms and Taraji P. Henson have signed on to star in Coffee and Kareem, a pairing that sounds like it was done in the same manner in which you might pull names from a hat for Secret Santa.Collider has the news on the cast coming together for the Coffee and Kareem movie. However, they don't have any additional details as to why the cop (Ed Helms) needs the son of his girlfriend (Taraji P. Henson) to clear his name and stop some big time drug boss.

Unfortunately, that means this movie ends up sounding like an update of Cop and a Half, the 1993 comedy that teamed Burt Reynolds with a precocious, cop-wannabe kid (Norman D. Golden II) who was always being a smart ass. Have you forgotten about that movie? Well, let's refresh your memory:

Hopefully making this movie better than Cop and a Half is the fact that Michael Dowse (Goon) will be directing from an original script by Shane McCarthy. On top of that, Ed Helms is a solid comedic presence in everything, and Netflix probably likes the fact that he's a star of The Office. That's one of their most popular shows, and Ed Helms will be a draw to redirect viewers to an original movie of their own.

But the real key will be finding the right kid who has perfect chemistry with The Hangover star. Hopefully they can find another kid like Bobb'e J. Thompson from Role Models. It's a shame he's all grown up now, because he'd be perfect. It sounds like this is more of an adult crime comedy instead of being more family friendly, so that helps too.

However, let's not forget that Cop Out was once a script on the Black List, formerly titled A Couple of Dicks. That film, which ended up starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, turned out to be a total disaster, so much that director Kevin Smith uses it as a punchline when he talks about the more unsatisfying side of his career.

Honestly, I'd like to know how big Taraji P. Henson's role is in this movie. Henson is better known for her dramatic roles, but she's no stranger to comedy either. She just starred in What Men Want, the R-rated, gender-spun remake of What Women Want, and she's had plenty of comedic roles before now. Hopefully she's not relegated to the side as only the concerned mother.

Coffee and Kareem doesn't have a release date yet, but we'll keep you posted.