Spoilers below
What crimes would you commit to recover your cat? Keanu uses this simple premise to highlight the absurdity of the archetypal damsel in distress narrative. The willing suspension of disbelief is thoroughly embraced, as the protagonists must commit an ever growing list of illegal acts to save their feline friend. Part Taken, part John Wick, the action/comedy follows recently dumped slacker Rell (Jordan Peele) and his uptight, people pleaser cousin Clarence (Kegan-Michael Key) as they navigate the LA underworld to rescue Rell’s kitten. The film thrives on the chemistry of its leads, their back and forth repartee filling simple expository scenes with a number of great one liners. Unfortunately, the rest of the characters do not have the same development, forcing too much pressure on the leads to deliver the laughs. The movie feels drawn out at an hour and forty minutes, but at the same time a number of storylines feel rushed or under developed. The momentum of the opening act is stalled as the film begins to explore stories outside of the main rescue plot.
The most egregious scene is towards the middle of Act II as Rell joins a drug run to Anna Ferris’ (playing herself) mansion and the momentum of the movie is completely killed. What should have been a scene stealing opportunity for Ferris devolves into an absurd game of truth or dare, where the jokes are few and far between. Luckily, the scene is offset with Clarence bonding over George Michael’s music with gang members as his straight laced character begins to enjoy the adventure. The growing comfort of Clarence feels with the criminal lifestyle as he comes out of his shell really allow Kegan-Michael Key to shine as he adeptly shows the fear and exhilaration Clarence has for this new life. Since Rells sole focus in the film is to recover Keanu, Peele is given fewer opportunities to show growth for his character.
At its core, the movie still feels like a number of sketches loosely linked together. Some scenes thrive such as a drug trip gone wrong and an ice breaker game with the 19th street blips (the rejects of the bloods and the crips), while others, like an emotional phone call between Clarence and his wife, seem out of place.
This may have contributed to the fragmented nature of the movie where love interests or marital strife feel disconnected from the overall narrative. Although these side stories detract from the flow of the film they do add some character development for the leads.
Once the movie has progressed past is uneven second act, it finishes with an over the top shoot out and car chase, full of gratuitous slow motion stunts. The movie excels in these moments deftly balancing action and comedy as bullets fly past the heroes, while they chase the forever mewling Keanu. The film does a serviceable job wrapping up a number of its storylines after the final confrontation. Although funny, Clarence’s wife finding his tougher nature to be a huge turn on may have worked better if we could have seen more scenes of them together.
I ultimately enjoyed the movie, but felt that some editorial oversight was needed on the film to get a more cohesive flow. Keanu is a humors movie that while enjoyable does not endear itself to multiple viewings. I look forward to the next offering of Key and Peele and hope to see them use their satirical wit on other genres and tropes with a more focused narrative.
I would give the film a C+ rating
