Keanu (2016)

When it comes to being a 'gangsta' (or um 'gangster' is the way to say it but I usually see it spelled the former way), people tend to come in that lingo of "H.A.M" (Hard as a Moter-effer). If you want to be part of a crew doing things like slinging drugs or hanging in the back of a strip club, you got to have a walk, you got to have the right talk, you got to know that guns will be part of it and probably doing drugs from time to time as well (and if you got to plug a few people along the way, well, all the better for street cred). But this is also something we see a lot in movies and television (even, of course, The Wire had its gangster elements in a strip club/drug slinging world), and it's very much in both a real world context and the movies in tandem that Key and Peele come in with their characters in the extremely, surprisingly funny Keanu.

The trailer promises some fish-out-of-water fun, where the comedy duo (coming to movies for the first time following a successful Comedy Central series also skewering race and pop culture in expert ways), playing basically middle-class dorks, have to descend into the criminal underworld of the 17th Street Blips (you can find them on 17th Street, naturally) in order to retrieve Peele's character's cat dubbed the title character (posters for other Warner brothers HAM classics like Heat and New Jack City, the latter being ironic for a couple of reasons, don his walls). There were a couple of things I knew I could expect - George Michael jokes to be sure, though not quite to the extent where Key gets the others in the gangster crew, well, into that s*** - but I didn't expect that they could keep up the humor throughout. They can, and they do.

I think what helps is that you believe this action-thriller movie world. It has an authenticity not unlike Hot Fuzz; this is made by people who, I suspect, really love these scuzzy, ultra-violent action flicks (and the whole angle of the cat comes from John Wick, albeit it's not quite *that* violent, few things are). There's an affection that seeps through, and it's also telling a story that makes it so that Key and Peele aren't just one ting throughout. They can both be comic relief or they can be the straight guy; something in a scene or happening just before it will trigger one of them to get even 'more' into character. That last part is a lot of what drives the humor, and it helps that a) they commit to these 'characters' within their characters, and b) there are other "roles" being played by others. With the exception of Method Man's Cheddar, almost none of the major or supporting characters is quite who they seem to be.

This is also a joy when you watch Tarantino flicks, though here the tone's more like a Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle: the tone is constantly irreverent, and often the laughs - massive ones, from the guts many times over - come from these guys being funny together, having perfect timing, and that they keep on coming up against greater and more dangerous obstacles (i.e. those two silent creepy killers that set the chain of events in the film at the start). But the strain of satire on class and culture is the other thing keeping the comedy and even the action fresh and alive.

The attention to how ridiculous these movies can get is one thing (again, Hot Fuzz), and some of the casting helps a great deal with that (two words: Anna Faris, good God she nearly steals the show, but just nearly). But I can't

Fmovies: A friend recommended this movie to me. I'd seen a few Key and Peele skits (some were funny, some not so much), so I thought I might as well try it.

It wasn't bad, but not great either. The best way I can think of to describe it is "Meh." Some of the jokes were funny, but others fell flat. I often found myself laughing out of pity rather than at the scene itself. My sister described watching it as "second-hand embarrassment," which I think is accurate. It was almost painful to watch.

I feel bad giving such a low rating, but I just couldn't find much to like. The cat was cute, but it didn't salvage the film. The plot was decent but choppy.

I think maybe if I was more of a fan of Key and Peele, I'd have liked this better? I don't know.

Comedy is subjective. Trying to explain why something does or doesn't make you laugh is like trying to explain why you think certain foods are delicious; how do you make someone experience your experience? For example, the sketch show "Key & Peele", while often a smart satire on race and sex, was simply and inexplicably hilarious to me. On the other hand, Keanu, a film created and starring the same dudes, has (arguably) nowhere near the laughs. Despite some all-in comedic performances from two of the most talented guys around, it simply isn't very funny. Through a series of unfortunate events, two mild-mannered men go looking for a kitten and find themselves in the midst of a war between competing drug gangs. Key and Peele display the same comedy-in-sync-ness they became famous for, and they deserve a vehicle much better than this to display their skill. Unfortunately the movie itself never quite finds its balance. It's an absurdist comedy that feels both too absurd and not absurd enough. The plot is shoddy at best, and the shallow levels of character give way to whatever joke seems to be funniest at that moment. None of that would matter, of course, if I just found the movie more consistently funny. Not that it's devoid LOL moments; Key and Peele both have a knack for putting a twist on a line or a facial expression to give it an added layer of wit (i.e. how they act when they think they're about to be killed). Unfortunately, they have created such anticipation through years of brilliant TV work, anything less than wall-to-wall guffaws can be a disappointment.

Keanu fmovies. 'Keanu' is one of those movies that you watch the trailer for and think,"That could either be really good or really bad". Unfortunately for anyone that is a fan of Key & Peele (as I am) you will sorely disappointed. I envy those that can watch a copy and paste movie and still find it as entertaining as the last movie that did that. Because I can't get sucked into a film that doesn't do anything new. And 'Keanu' doesn't do anything new at all. In fact it shameless rips tons of different movies off. Being a comedy, I expected this to happen here, but I also expected it to rip things off in a clever way. Never in the film did I get the impression that they were parodying any of this

The most heinous, shameless rip off is it's plot line. Which was basically just a reskinned, less entertaining version of '21 Jump Street'. The story is literally about two guys that infiltrate a gang to find something or someone. Right off the bat it's clear they don't belong in this world but they do enough dumb things to gain the gangs respect.

After getting in good they realize that they may be in too deep. There is even a scene where one or more of the main characters gets super high and hallucinates. Exactly like the Jump Street movies. The only difference here is that it is not done in clever or funny way.

Most of the film is like this. Shamelessly ripping off other, better movies. The worst part is it neither acknowledges or makes fun of the way that it's doing this. It acts like everything it's doing is completely original and hopes that you won't notice. Not mention that most of the things that happen don't even matter to the plot at all.

Nearly half of the film is filled with scenes that do absolutely nothing to further the plot. It stops the movie, tells a couple bad jokes, and gets back to things. Yet, it doesn't do it that quickly. There is one scene in particular where they are in a mansion with Anna Faris that drags on for way to long. It goes on for ten or fifteen minutes telling the same jokes on loop over and over.

"Oh, this isn't gangster man. Wtf". "You guys aren't real gangsters if you don't listen to this." And queue laugh track. (spoiler) As if the film isn't standard enough it even has the whole, one main character is actually a cop twist ending. By that point I was no longer laughing with the movie, I was laughing at the movie. And at all the incredibly dumb things it did.

I kid you not there is a scene where a wife calls her husband and says that a trusted friend tried something bad to her. Naturally he wants to know what it was but she inexplicably hangs up before she tells him. Then she gets back to him and he just knocks the guy out. Like, I thought that was a friend. Plus, you don't even know what he did. No one on earth would do what you just did. Why did this happen?

It, like many other parts of this movie, seemed to be thrown in just to get a laugh. The writers didn't think about logic or reason but instead opted for a cheap chuckle. The entire film was filled with moments that were so bad but easy to fix. It was clear that the writers didn't care about making a good movie and instead simply wanted to pump this out. Nothing made any sense and no one bothered asking about it.

However, I will say that Key & Peele continue to have great chemistry. They gave very committed performances and were one of very few saving graces. T

I really liked this film. It was entertaining and it was funny! And I must say that most of the comedies I have watched I did not find funny at all, but really at all. This one was funny almost the entire time - especially those George Michael references to the Faith video and songs which were played in the car. And I must say I wonder what George Michael thought about the film and use of his songs! And just because it is George, somehow I expected the guy to reveal himself as gay at the end of the film ( or earlier) but I guess I assumed wrong.

The two main guys were really funny. I do not know them from other films, but, here, they were good.

The cat was really cute too and the thing with a calendar was awesome! Really creative photos!

This gets nine rating from me. It was funny, entertaining, properly paces ( not too slow or too rushed) and references to other films and persons were hilarious.

Who hasn't been waiting for Key and Peele to put out a movie together? 'Key and Peele' was one of the best sketch comedy shows of recent memory. Their dynamic on screen is always must watch television and so we were all waiting to see how it would translate to the big screen. For the most part, Keanu works. It does a good job of incorporating the same humor from their show into the film. I just wish they pushed it even further. There are plenty of laugh out loud moments, but the plot of Keanu falls back into clichéd territory far too often.

It's largely a spoof of action films in the same vein as the avidly popular Jump Street films. Instead of going undercover to take down drug dealers, the duo played by Key and Peele, pretend they are drug dealers to win back the kitten that was taken from them. But besides that, the plot unravels exactly as you would expect. You could make the argument that it's not even necessarily a full on spoof, especially with its attempt at drama quite a few times throughout the film.

With that said, when the laughs hit, they hit hard. There's something about the quick witted banter between Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele that it becomes addicting to watch after a while. I just feel they could have taken it a step further. The runtime feels a little long in the tooth too, especially towards the climax.

The supporting cast is okay, with a few surprises here and there, but the real hero here is Keanu the kitten. It isn't named Keanu by accident, and I enjoyed how they played off his name throughout the film. But don't go in expecting Keanu to be the center focus. The kitten only gets like 25 minutes of screen time, but it isn't wasted.

Overall, Keanu features the incredible duo of Key and Peele and fans of the sketch show will no doubt walk away loving this, but there was still some untapped areas to be tackled. Whether it's a sequel to Keanu, a return to TV, or a completely fresh idea, I'm down to watch anything these guys do.

+Incredible duo

+Brilliantly stupid premise

-But it ends up feeling cliché and uninspired

-Uneven

6.8/10