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Keanu's absurd premise and compulsively watchable starring duo add up to an agreeably fast-paced comedy that hits more than enough targets to make up for the misses.Read critic reviews
Rent Keanu on Apple TV, Prime Video, Vudu, or buy it on Apple TV, Prime Video, Vudu.
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Recently dumped by his girlfriend, slacker Rell (Jordan Peele) finds some happiness when a cute kitten winds up on his doorstep. After a heartless thief steals the cat, Rell recruits his cousin Clarence (Keegan-Michael Key) to help him retrieve it. They soon learn that a thug named Cheddar (Method Man) has the animal, and he'll only give it back if the two men agree to work for him. Armed with guns and a gangster attitude, it doesn't take long for the hapless duo to land in big trouble.
Key & Peele are two of the most enigmatic comedy duos of the last decade. They filled a void on TV when Chappelle left of sketch comedy done right. While Keanu represents their first foray onto the silver screen, these guys probably need another movie or two of quality to rival their small-screen notoriety.
Keanu is certainly cute and the entire premise behind this movie is absurd. However, because it is Key and Peele, they pull it off flawlessly. It's just so easy to buy these two being involved in something this ridiculous.
I was perhaps hoping for a few more guest appearances, but Will Forte, Method Man and Luis Guzman were all right. It just kept it from being a true movie instead of what felt like an extended sketch made for TV movie.
While Key and Peele continue to build their brand outside of the TV show, they stuck with what worked for them on it. They basically transferred it to the big screen. You get a lot of call backs to the show and some great hints at what's to come, but the more these guys do together, the more I'm all for it.
Super Reviewer
Dec 19, 2016
It's a glorified episode of Key and Peele that has enough humor to cover up the pure nonsense. Keanu combines cute-kitty love & the quirky duo of its leads for a silly, wacky film that is senseless to its core but capable of a good number of laughs along the way. 3.5/5
Super Reviewer
Sep 02, 2016
One of my greatest regrets is never having watched Key and Peele's Comedy Central series. That's clearly hyperbole about it being one of my greatest regrets, but I really wish I could have seen it, especially since my cable provider had some issues with Viacom so they took all Viacom channels off, and this included Comedy Central, where Key and Peele aired. But, at the very least, I finally got to see their first attempt at a feature-length film and, honestly speaking, it's a really damn good movie. Transitioning from a sketch comedy series to a feature-length film is considerably more difficult than just going from a series like Veep or Arrested Development, with story and consistent characters, due to the nature of sketch shows, you don't need to write a story to connect the sketches in each episode. So, obviously, and this was written by Peele and someone else, not Keegan Michael-Key, there's some elements of the film that don't work as well as others. But, outside of some bumps in the road, I think Key and Peele's particular brand of humor makes a pretty smooth transition to a full-feature film. This is something that will keep getting better and better at if they continue on it. But, I mean, where do you even start with this movie? That the kitten is absolutely adorable? I guess that's as good a point as any, because the kitten really is fucking adorable. One of the things I liked about the movie is how they sort of build a really simple connection between Keanu and Rell. Rell's just getting over a bad breakup that has left him depressed. Keanu just sort of comes into his life at exactly the right moment where Rell needs him the most. It's simple, but I think it's effective. Particularly if you're a pet owner, like myself. Of course, they do kick in with the absurd parts of the concept later on, which leads both Rell and Clarence to pretend to be drug dealers in order to get Keanu back. Again, it's absurd, but I think it works because it's something that pet owners can relate to. Not necessarily going as far as they did as far as pretending to be drug dealers, but doing almost next to anything to get your pet back is something that I could relate to. Of course, they do use the concept to get laughs out of it. Like I said, there's some bumps on the road and those bumps are the fact that the film isn't always consistent. By and large it's a really damn funny movie, but there's some moments where it's not as funny. For example, the whole bit with Anna Faris, while overall a really fun cameo, does go on longer than it probably should. Though that does give Clarence, embracing the life of pretending to be a drug dealer after being somewhat of a goody two-shoes, the chance to teach the other gang members, all waiting in the van for Rell and Hi-C to come back, about the greatness of George Michael, which does produce some of the funnier moments of the film. There's another scene where Clarence hallucinates that he's in George Michael's video for Faith and he dances along with him, another highlight of the film. Key and Peele's chemistry, which is as apparent and obvious as the nose on my face, really does help carry the film past its weaker moments. And, much unlike other films like this, Rell and Clarence do face consequences for their actions. Which is something that blows my mind really. I remember Project X, an awful movie, where the people in that film and the party they threw ended up, literally, destroying the entire town. And yet none of the perpetrators faced any consequences for their actions. It's either that or they do face consequences, but they just forego it and go straight to the ending. The scripting is strong and it plays to Key and Peele's strengths as a duo. The casting is really good as well, so no complaints on that front whatsoever. And the flaws that are there are fairly minuscule that it doesn't really affect my thoughts whatsoever. I'd definitely recommend it. I had a blast watching this.
Look, there is a lot of stuff I liked here (The very deliberate way toughness is exposed as a kind of performance, the unflinching violence and dark humor) but the movie never finds a way to connect these good individual elements into a consistent final product.
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