I made the mistake of agreeing to see Keanu because I love Key and Peele, the tv show and the comedy duo. I also love cats and Keanu Reeves, whom I heard did the voiceover for the cat. I did not do any further research plus I wanted to see my friend. I should have done my research and made a counterproposal. I suppose that I owe Key and Peele money for watching their show for free on Amazon. Keanu is dreckitude! Is it too late for Key and Peele to get another season on Comedy Central?
Keanu’s premise is two ordinary middle class black guys get sucked into the gangster life when one of them adopts a cat with a dark past. They get mistaken for a mythic crime duo then shenanigans ensue if shenanigans mean a lot of criminal activity.
If a scene in Keanu does not involve the cat or George Michael, it probably isn’t funny. Like Let’s Be Cops, Keanu is a buddy comedy predicated on mistaken identity and becoming the men that they want to be. They learn how to stand up for themselves, have fun and find or rekindle love. Unlike Let’s Be Cops, they cross a line that leads to consequences for their actions. Keanu ends up being less a buddy comedy and more of a gangster movie with a wink to John Wick, but Keanu did not succeed at wittily spoofing either genre. Tiffany Haddish was the only human bright spot in Keanu.
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I cannot recall a mistaken identity comedy where the characters do something so serious that they have to face serious consequences for their action. Not only does that happen in Keanu, they end up in jail. Seriously, even in a comedy, the black people just want to be gangsters and end up in jail. The consequence is the one realistic note in a very unrealistic comedy.
I’m not saying that black people pretending to be gangsters and even engaging in illegal activity can never be funny, but it should be if it is a comedy. Keanu was like a Saturday Night Live skit that went on way too long except worse because it did go on way too long, there were no musical guests or commercials, and the earlier skits were also not funny.
There were several moments that bugged me. Why would you put a kitten that you loved on the same ground as a boa constrictor? If the post-credits scene is real, when did it happen? That scene would have serious implications for how the rest of the movie unfolded at a certain point.