MAY 1, 2016
The posters for the new film “Keanu” feature a close-up of the world’s most adorable kitty cat. If you’re a parent, you might be tempted to bring your child to see “Keanu” because of the adorable kitty cat. Don’t. Because “Keanu” features R-rated profane language, drug-use, topless strippers and blood-soaked violence. And an adorable kitty cat.
“Keanu” is the first film starring Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, whose much-acclaimed 5-season Comedy Central sketch show, “Key & Peele,” ended on a high note last September. In “Key & Peele,” the comic team took on a wide range of comedic roles, specializing in the joy in play-acting. The same spirit thrives throughout “Keanu,” but what works in a 10-minute sketch can’t always stretch to a feature-length film.
“Key & Peele” had a sharp political edge at times (Key’s most famous character was President Obama’s anger translator, saying out loud what the cool President is really thinking), but that’s not what they’re interested in here. “Keanu” deals much more with race and masculinity.
Any illusions that “Keanu” is an extended kitty video are shattered in the film’s opening where two mysterious long-haired leather-clad hitmen, Oil & Smoke Dresden (Key & Peele), massacre a drug cartel. The only survivor is the dead druglord’s cat, who captures the eye of the hitmen as it scampers away. The kitty winds up on the doorstep of Rell (Peele), a stoner who’s blubbering because his girlfriend just left him. When his cousin Clarence (Key) comes over to comfort him, he is delighted to see just how much joy the new cat has already given Rell.
Clarence is a typical suburban dad whose wife Hannah (Nia Long) is off on a weekend trip with her daughter and a family friend, and she encourages Clarence to do something that’s really him. To Clarence, who grooves out to his favorite artist George Michael, the idea of doing something wild is to go to L.A.’s Cinerama Dome with Rell to see the latest Liam Neeson shoot-’em-up called “Substitute Teacher.”
Upon returning home, Rell discovers that his cat, which he has named Keanu, has been stolen and he immediately suspects his drug-dealer-next-door, the dread-locked Hulka (Will Forte, in a wonderful comic performance), but the white Hulka, who considers himself blacker than nerds Rell and Clarence, fingers a local mobster named Cheddar who works out of a strip club. Rell and Clarence confront Cheddar (Method Man, properly sinister) and his right-hand woman with a secret, Hi-C (a very good Tiffany Haddish), who mistake them for the look-alike hitmen. Cheddar has Keanu in his possession so, in order to rescue the cat, Rell and Clarence have to play along and do their best to adopt a masculine gangsta shtick. Needless to say, complications ensue.
Those complications include a number of typical Key & Peele bits. Some work — a highlight includes an argument as to who had the tougher kids who beat them up after school. Some, though, drag on — an extended scene with actress Anna Faris (playing herself), drugs and a samurai sword, intercut with Clarence teaching Cheddar’s gang how to appreciate George Michael. In 5 minutes, hilarious — in 15, not so much.
“Keanu” is the first film directed by Peter Atencio, who directed the pair in the “Key & Peele” series, and his sketch background doesn’t serve the film well. Directorially, most scenes consist of plunking the camera down and letting the guys do their stuff. which, when the material is good, is just fine. But when the script sags, Atencio can’t do much to save it.
But what’s funny in “Keanu” is very funny, and Key and Peele have a chemistry that clicks. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a genuine comedy team headlining a movie. A comedy team is different than actors who have a spark together. Yes, there’s been Gene Wilder & Richard Pryor, Chris Farley & David Spade, Tina Fey & Amy Poehler… But all of those actors have had greater success apart from each other. Key & Peele have each had some supporting performances separately, but like such teams as Laurel & Hardy and Abbott & Costello, they have reached their comic apex working together.
“Keanu” is a good start to a film career. Not a great start, but one that shows promise of greater things to come for this comedy team.
GRADE: B-
