Black Coffee

Name: Black Coffee
Item: Black Coffee
Rating: 2
Author: Tracy Moore

Movie review by

Tracy Moore, Common Sense Media

Common Sense says

age 13+

(i)

Middling romcom tackles ambition and romance, heavy themes.

PG
2014
81 minutes

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age 10+

Based on 1 review

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The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

Positive Messages

Black Coffee offers positive messages about entrepreneurial ventures and their importance in the African-American community and the importance of finding a soul mate or a good relationship with a person whose values match yours. It pushes the message that good things can come out of bad circumstances as well as messages about the importance of hard work, a strong work ethic, and high standards in how we treat people in romantic relationships.

Positive Role Models & Representations

Most adults in the film are well-intentioned, driven people with ambition and high standards for relationships. Others are portrayed as lazy, greedy, or materialistic and unwilling to do the work to get the things they want in life. There's a lot of discussion of the kinds of men and women the characters are, with importance placed on good jobs, ambition, faith, and respectable behavior.

Violence

Minor intensity when a man confronts another man about cheating with his girlfriend. Voices are raised, but no punches are thrown.

Sex

Lots of suggestion and innuendo, flirting, and romantic overtones. A couple wakes up in bed, presumably after sex. A man kisses a woman's hand as a flirtatious gesture. Much discussion of dating, cheating, and romance. A man flirts with women who buy his coffee. Long plot passages revolve around a man's effort to get a woman he likes to agree to go on a date with him and the "sparks" between them. A man jokes about hiding under a bed and watching the springs squeak above him.

Language

Casual profanity throughout, such as frequent use of "a--hole," "ass," "crazy ass," "damn," "tore-up ass," and "your ass."

Consumerism

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

A couple of scenes involve wine at dinner or toasting with champagne.

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that Black Coffee is a romantic comedy about dating and entrepreneurial ventures among African-American professionals and the issues that come with them. It has mild profanity ("ass" and multiple variations of the word) and some sexual suggestiveness but mostly focuses on what makes romantic relationships good or bad, workable or epic failures, as well as what it means to be a good man or woman as a professional and a lover. There are heavy themes about divorce, heartbreak, cheating, controlling behaviors, and the healing that takes place around these events, as well as a running narrative about trying to be successful and African-American. There's not much here for kids and nothing terribly interesting for teens, either.

User Reviews

Parents say
Kids say

Adult Written byTimothy Glykis August 18, 2018

age 10+

Good Movie

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What's the story?

Robert (Darrin Dewitt Henson) has just been fired from his job, a company once owned by his own father, and, to top off the bad news, conniving girlfriend Mita (Erica Hubbard) leaves him the same day because he hasn't put a ring on it yet. As he struggles to figure out his next steps, he keeps at his work, where he meets the intriguing Morgan (Gabrielle Dennis), who helps him quickly realize that good things can come out of awfully bad circumstances.

Is it any good?

BLACK COFFEE offers some good ideas to think about but doesn't have a particularly compelling execution. It examines ideas about ambition in the African-American community and the importance of finding a good soul mate and a partner who respects you, but overall, it's a middling film that doesn't make a big statement about either. There are some nice performances, but the heavy focus on adult themes, the innuendo, and the discussions of cheating and relationships are too grown-up for kids and not likely to be of interest to teens.

Talk to your kids about ...

Families can talk about relationship values in the film. What did the movie seem to be saying about what values matter in romantic relationships?
Why do you think entrepreneurial ventures were so important to many of the characters in the film?
What messages did the film send about soul mates? Do you agree? Why, or why not?