Coffee and Kareem (4 Stars)

Sadly, it's no longer possible to visit the cinema to see new films. That means that my film meetup group has been put on hold. Or has it? The Meetup web site has devised methods for meetings to be held online. My good friend in England, Mike McAuley, hosted an online meetup to watch the new film "Coffee and Kareem". There were some teething problems today, because the software used is less than perfect, but it should be easier next time. Effectively, Netflix customers can watch a film together and enjoy a text chat simultaneously. That's not ideal, because I don't appreciate talking during a film, but it's a viable alternative to sitting together in a cinema.

We used the Netflix Party extension, which is currently only available for the Chrome browser. The party's host selects a film, then clicks the NP icon to generate a URL. He gives this URL to anyone he wants to join the party. The guests click the link first, and then click the icon on their own computer to join the party. That's it.

The control is in the hands of the host. He can start and pause the film, so everyone is watching in sync. It's up to each person how much or how little he types while watching the film.

Police officer James Coffee is dating a widow with a 12-year-old son called Kareem. Kareem doesn't approve of the relationship, because he doesn't like white people, he doesn't like policemen, and white cops are the lowest of the low. He tries to hire a gangster to scare James away, but he's in over his head. Kareem witnesses a murder, and James has to rescue him. He can't turn to the police, because someone in the police force is working together with the gangster.

I know that this film has received bad reviews, but I enjoyed it right from the opening scenes. It's hilarious, the sort of film that makes me laugh out loud.

It's a Netflix original film, so I assume that it will only be available on Netflix.