Title – Keanu (2016)

Director – Peter Atencio (The Rig)

Cast – Jordan Peele, Keegan-Michael Key, Tiffany Haddish, Method Man, Jason Mitchell, Luis Guzmán, Will Forte, Nia Long

Plot – When his beloved kitten Keanu is taken by a gangster named Chedar (Method Man), mild mannered loser Rell (Peele) teams up with his family man cousin Clarence (Key) to get him back, no matter the cost.

“That’s the cutest cat I’ve ever seen in my life”

Review by Eddie on 15/02/2017

Showcasing the gulf that often exists between making the jump from skit comedy and online fame to feature length films, American comedy superstars Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key have for their first venture into original Hollywood filmmaking (released direct to disc here in Australia) failed to make cat centred comedy Keanu a film of note.

Continuing on a rather unfortunate trend of recent comedies that just aren’t actually that funny and are often overly violent and mean spirited, Keanu initially begins as something likely to be adored by cult comedy fans (eg; those that like their Grandma’s Boy and Idiocracy) as the adorable kitten Keanu takes up home with Peele’s down on his luck Rell, but once poor old Keanu finds himself kidnapped (kitnapped?) by Method Man’s gangster Chedar, things within Key and Peele’s adventure quickly take a downward spiral of unfunny and overlong events.

Quiet funny in small doses, as their fame and many smart skits attest to, Key and Peele struggle to make the most of their undoubted chemistry as their mild mannered cousins take a step up as a pair of fake super hitman/drug slingers and the two take a potentially funny if done correctly idea of these two everyday man impersonating people their not too far which extends to annoying put upon accents, George Michael fandom and a seriously odd scene involving Anna Farris.

Key and Peele’s performances here pose a large question mark over whether or not they can transition into fully fledged movie stars as it seems smaller doses rather than large doses of the two offer up more potential for them to make their particular brand of comedy tick over into feature length ventures.

Flirting at times with making something of its potentially hilarious premise, Keanu showcases snippets of genuine comedic gold but it’s often lost in amongst a story line that struggles to maintain momentum and ends up in rather uninteresting territory from the random possibilities it initially proposed.

Likely to be loved by the fans that can’t get enough of Key and Peele and for those that loves seriously cute kittens, Keanu is a disappointing culmination for Key and Peele after a number of years making their mark with much funnier skits.

2 do-rag wearing kittens out of 5