In the wake of the cancellation of Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key's brilliant sketch-comedy series Key & Peele, the comedy duo became primarily attached to their big-screen project Keanu, an action-comedy selling itself primarily on a very adorable cat which was at the centre of its thin but oddball premise. Considering the duo's talents, their initial feature film held a lot of promise, and the cat-based advertisements were a success. However, the 90-minute length of Keanu is a much larger endeavour than Key & Peele's five-minute maximum sketches, and as it turns out, the greater running time only results in the duo's latest comedic idea long outstaying its welcome.
Clarence (Key) is a suburban father whose wife and daughter leave town with friends for a few days, leaving him to hang out with his best friend Rell (Peele), who's been down in the dumps after breaking up with his girlfriend. Rell's spirits are lifted, though, when at his door wanders a little kitten. Rell takes the cat in and names it Keanu. Later, the cat is kidnapped by a local gang, leading Rell and Clarence to pretend to be gangsters in order to retrieve the cat.
Narratively, Keanu is a fairly basic fish-out-of-water story about two dudes going way out of their depth in order to get their cat back. The primary joke that the film operates on isn't derived from the cat itself, but from Clarence and Rell attempting to blend into the gang. Unfortunately, once this initial joke is established, there's very little else placed on top of it, and with a few half-hearted exceptions, every subsequent joke plays off of the same theme, to rapidly diminishing returns. Clarence and Rell's exaggerated fake accents, a running gag about Clarence's love of George Michael, and a variety of awkward situations where the two come close to blowing their cover all draw from the same well, and almost immediately grow stale. Compared to the intelligence of Key and Peele's best skits, the lack of any real satirical edge to Keanu is disappointing, as the film does little to explore any potential themes which it stumbles upon.
It doesn't help that gags often run way too long. The worst example comes in one dull patch in the middle of the film, but the slack pace extends to the vast majority of the film, with almost every major comedic set piece dragging on for an eternity. Combined with the aforementioned awkward situations, this means that parts of Keanu become vaguely unpleasant to watch. To an extent, this is countered by the excellent performances of Key and Peele in the lead roles, who bring their usual charisma and chemistry here. The two are known for their versatility, and they liven up the proceedings enough to prevent the film from being wholly unwatchable in its worst parts. Hints of strong character moments are really brought out by their performances, even though what development the characters do receive is painfully by-the-numbers and uninteresting.
Keanu isn't without its moments, and every once in a while an inventive gag does slip through, often in the form of a spike of absurdity. These come much more frequently in the first several minutes of the film, where the conceit is still fresh and especially before the leads go undercover. Somewhat more frequent are the occasional spikes in intensity, where the film begins to earn the "action" part of the action-comedy label. The actual action scenes are decent enough, if unexceptional, but some standoffs and character beats briefly build up tension, even if it rarely escalates. Having little experience with the Liam Neeson movies that Key and Peele love so much, I can't speak to how well the film replicates them, but some touches do bring to mind a Michael Bay blockbuster.
Those going in expecting a lot of feline cuteness will likely be the most disappointed, as the cat often takes a backseet to the protagonists' endeavours. Large stretches are kitten-free, and when the cat does appear, it's often the best part of the film, excepting a couple grotesquely cloying scenes that lean way too hard on the cat's charm. Sometimes, the cat's mere presence is used to lighten up a scene, and especially early on, it's placed into some legitimately endearing situations. It's admirable how well-trained the cat is, especially in scenes where it needs to take very specific actions in order for the scene to work. However, when the cat is the focal point of the scene without a joke attached, the audiovisual cues delve obnoxiously into saccharine territory, overriding Keanu's inherent cuteness.
As the debut feature film of Key and Peele, Keanu comes as a crushing disappointment, lacking the wit they displayed so often on their show and outstaying its welcome early into its 90-minute running time. While the film isn't without its moments, it drags extensively and its jokes rarely land, and as a result it begins to feel very, very long by the halfway point, when its initial charms are all but exhausted. Surely the duo has better films in their future, but their first foray onto the big screen is a far cry from their small-screen brilliance.
5/10
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