I was really bummed when I heard Key & Peele would be concluding with its fifth season. I wasn’t a regular viewer of the sketch comedy series, but the sketches I did have the pleasure of seeing were enough to convince me of their brilliance and make me wish they’d keep going forever and ever.
Now, a little less than a year after their show’s final episode, Keegan Michael-Key and Jordan Peele are throwing their hat into the movie mix with their feature debut Keanu. The prospect of a Key & Peele movie alone had me sold; add an adorable kitten to the mix and I can barely keep my brain from exploding with sheer joy. And while the final product isn’t quite as inspired as one would hope, Keanu is funny and charming enough to prove its stars have what it takes to make it on the big screen.
Rell (Peele) has had it pretty rough the past couple days. His girlfriend just broke up with him and life no longer has any purpose. “I feel like Apollo Creed,” he explains to his cousin Clarence (Key) over the phone. “In which Rocky movie?” asks Clarence. “The one where he dies,” answers Rell.
Everything changes when Rell hears scratching at his front door and discovers the world’s most adorable kitten waiting there to greet him. He names it Keanu and the two become inseparable.
For the next couple of weeks, everything is looking up for Rell, until the day he and Clarence return from an outing to find his house ransacked and no sign of Keanu. According to Rell’s drug dealer (Will Forte), it was the 17th Street Blips who did the cat-napping. Now, Rell and Clarence must pretend to be gang members in order to infiltrate the Blips and save their kitty cat.
When Keanu works, it really works. Some scenes made me laugh so hard it hurt, but there are also long stretches of ill-fated punchlines and awkward jokes that don’t quite hit their marks. The majority of Keanu’s 2nd act focuses on the one-note premise of Rell and Clarence attempting to pass as cold-blooded killers in a hostile environment. This section of the film stretches on far longer than it should and distracts from the main plotline of the duo trying to save the cat. (There’s far less of Keanu in Keanu than there should be.) If the scenes of them pretending to be ‘gangsta’ had been funnier, I might not have minded as much, but the jokes fall flat far too often.
The scattered characterizations don’t help either. Clarence is a loving father and husband who avoids conflict at all turns in favor of a polite, well-mannered demeanor. He puts the needs of others before his own needs, often to his detriment. Rell insists he needs to lighten up and let his less responsible side flourish and throughout the film, in pretending to be a gangster, Clarence is able to indulge in this side of his personality. The problem is, we never get the feeling Clarence was ever this kind of person in the first place and the idea that he’s been holding back this side of his personality his whole life is under-developed.
I know, I know – this is a comedy. Characterizations aren’t as important as the humor, right? But, when the humor is so scattershot that you find yourself paying attention to these kinds of inconsistencies, it does become a problem.
By its 3rd act though, Keanu is up-and-running again, bringing both the action and the laughs in spades. It trades any semblance of reality or genuine character development for full-blown cartoonish comedy. The tradeoff works in its favor, as the jokes become more consistent and the pace picks up considerably. It’s almost enough to make you forget just how dull the preceding moments were.
Despite its sporadic quality, Keanu manages to get by thanks to Key and Peele themselves. Their comic timing and all-around charisma works wonders, carrying the film through its lesser moments. There’s never any doubt as to their abilities, and with a stronger script, they could be capable of crafting the next comedy classic. As far as first efforts go, Keanu could have been a lot worse. The frustrating thing is, with a bit more polish, it could have been a lot better too. But the pros outweigh the cons, and if you’re a fan of the duo or kittens in general, you’ll find plenty to enjoy here.
FINAL RATING: 3.5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment