Keanu (2016)
January 25, 2017 10:41 AM - Subscribe

Friends hatch a plot to retrieve a stolen kitten by posing as drug dealers for a street gang.

Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key of sketch comedy show "Key and Peele" present their first full length movie, "Keanu," where they protray two cousins end up on a madcap weekend trying to get a kitten back. They also play badassed assassins. Trailer, Wikipedia article
posted by rmd1023 (18 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
I had heard this movie was fun, but I ended up laughing myself silly - it was even better than I expected.
posted by rmd1023 at 10:43 AM on January 25, 2017


I did not know Keanu Reeves did the voice of Keanu. I am pleased he's continuing his tradition of completely off-the-wall cameos in off-the-wall comedies. Remember Ortiz the Dog Boy in Freaked?
posted by infinitewindow at 11:43 AM on January 25, 2017 [7 favorites]


I haven't seen either movie, but this is supposed to be sort of an indirect send-up of John Wick, right?
posted by tobascodagama at 12:05 PM on January 25, 2017


It would be an incredibly indirect send-up, if so. Things in both movies are are set off by criminals messing with a pet, but that's about it. (That is, unless I slept through the part where Keegan-Micheal Key shoots 100 guys point blank in the face.)
posted by paper chromatographologist at 12:10 PM on January 25, 2017


When I saw the trailer for this, I said, "This is going to be the best movie ever made." But the word of mouth was so bad that I didn't even bother seeing it. I guess I should?
posted by holborne at 12:22 PM on January 25, 2017


Yes, you should see it.

If nothing else, it's a wonderful celebration of George Michael.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 1:19 PM on January 25, 2017 [11 favorites]


I recall it has quite a few duds in there, but it never overstays its welcome. Won't exactly recommend it, but yeah, you should go ahead and watch it.
posted by lmfsilva at 2:43 PM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]


Agreed. Not every swing hits the ball, but I suspect their sketch comedy background helped with the pacing - parts of it felt a bit like a string of sketches linked together in parts.
posted by rmd1023 at 4:43 PM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]


This was the best random choice of movie to see in the theater my roommate and I ever made. It was the best, especially because both of us had no idea what to expect, aside from some silliness, after seeing the trailer.

I'm sure there's a genre of "normal everyday people pretends to be and commingle with gangsters", and this is like one of the best. (Date Night, with Tina Fey and Steve Carrell, would also be up there)
posted by numaner at 9:41 PM on January 25, 2017


It was obviously a zillion different kittens... but they were all adorable!

The movie is a fluffy delight, and as mentioned, highlights include an excellently-delivered George Michael gag/tribute, Keanu Reeves himself in a cameo, and a lot of the best of K&P sketches about how Black masculinity is performed.
posted by TwoStride at 1:16 PM on January 26, 2017 [1 favorite]


I started this movie, but to me, it had a slow opening. I got as far as visiting the drug dealer next door, does it pick up from there?
posted by Atreides at 2:37 PM on January 26, 2017


Yes, it picks up pretty quickly after that!
It's so dumb but very amusing. The George Michael part does indeed stick with you and come back to haunt you in weird ways when you are just sitting around thinking about work or whatever later.
posted by rmless at 2:51 PM on January 26, 2017 [3 favorites]


I recommend this as a "plane movie"-- if you can watch it for free and while you are doing something else, it is pretty good.
posted by rmless at 2:52 PM on January 26, 2017


I love it, but I feel like some of the tonal shifts work against it. The action movie stuff feels too action movie in places, especially towards the end; I'm not sure the fate of our heroes works for me, either. It's like the movie wants this silly shit to have real life consequences for some reason, and to me the real-world rules are too inconsistently applied for that to play right. I'm curious to see how the genre-mixing works out in Jordan Peele's Get Out, a horror movie that apparently begins feeling like a comedy and becomes very not funny at all. Everything I've read about it is glowing, so I'm guessing it blends comedy and horror a little more deftly. (The trailer looks so good, too.)

But I really, really love Keanu, tone issues aside. Feeding Keanu motivation for his Shining homage ("She's trying to ruin your manuscript!"), the discussion of George Michael, punching out Spencer (say...!)...Aw, it's so good.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 5:23 PM on January 26, 2017 [1 favorite]


If you liked their television show, you'll enjoy this movie. It's essentially a longer, more elaborate version of one of their sketches.

And the George Michael thing is priceless.
posted by cleverevans at 8:41 PM on January 31, 2017 [1 favorite]


Finally saw this! I give it a solid okay. Heavy mining of standard Key & Peele tropes, so a nice reminder of the series, but not something that I think I’ll ever feel compelled to see again.
posted by Going To Maine at 1:38 PM on February 5, 2017


I don't get why so many stoner movies feature extreme violence: weed makes you much less likely to shoot people, right?

Anyway, I thought this movie was pretty funny.
posted by latkes at 7:52 PM on February 8, 2017


I wonder if this is the only movie around that is explicitly about AA men code switching?
posted by P.o.B. at 10:07 PM on November 29, 2017 [2 favorites]


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