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
