Keanu

Keanu, the first cinematic outing from the comedic duo of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, is the first truly laugh out loud funny movie of the year.  When you sit through as many failed comedies as I do, a movie that genuinely makes you laugh and laugh often is always something worth celebrating.  Yes, this is an absurd movie, but not so much so that it flies off the rails.  Key and Peele have such a wonderful and natural chemistry on screen together that you hope Hollywood treats them right.  These guys deserve a long string of films if their first movie is any indication.

Of course, Key and Peele have been perfecting their chemistry and humor for years on their sketch comedy TV show, which recently ended.  Their humor revolves around breaking down cliches and misconceptions of masculinity and race, all the while keeping a very breezy and fun chemistry and atmosphere.  This movie captures that strength in spades.  When comics try to branch out into movies, they usually try to create a vehicle tailored around them.  And while Key and Peele definitely get plenty of opportunities to show off their timing here, they are constantly upstaged by their titular co-star - an impossibly tiny and adorable kitten named Keanu who, truth be told, is probably the most appealing and talented animal star to hit the screen in a long time.  Whoever trained the seven kittens who filled in for the cat during the shoot deserves all the praise they have coming to them.  So, with this movie, we not only get the screen debut of a talented comic team, but also the debut of a true animal star.  I don't remember the last movie to feature so much budding talent.

As the film opens, the tiny kitten is the pet of a Mexican drug lord, until the base of operations is raided by a pair of assassins who kill everyone within during a bloody raid.  The cat escapes unharmed, and after wandering the streets, ends up at the doorstep of Rell (Peele), a man trying unsuccessfully to mend his broken heart after a painful break up with his girlfriend.  Rell instantly falls head over heels for the lonely kitty (Who wouldn't?), and becomes almost obsessed with his new pet, going so far as to place the cat, whom he names Keanu, in a series of photos based on scenes from famous movies (The Shining, Fargo) for a hobby.  Rell's only friend is his cousin, Clarence (Key, giving a very likable performance), and the two plan some time together when Clarence's wife and daughter go away for the weekend.  But when they return to Rell's place only to find it burglarized and Keanu missing, they become determined to track down the feline.

The search for the missing pet leads them directly into the criminal underworld.  It seems that a local gang leader named Cheddar (Method Man) has fallen hard for the cat as well, and is keeping it as his "gangsta pet".  Now the two friends must try to pass themselves off as hardened drug dealers and killers in order to infiltrate the operation, and get Keanu back.  Naturally, our heroes have no idea how to act on the streets, or in a gang.  One's a suburban dad who drives a minivan and worships the music of George Michael, the other is lazy and timid. (When a police car happens to drive by while he is blasting the song "F**k the Police", he turns down the volume, and smiles and waves at the cops.) In the wrong hands, this could have easily been a one-joke movie, and I guess Keanu is to some extent.  But the talent, chemistry and timing of the two stars keeps things fresh and interesting.  They are always coming up with funny ways to talk their ways out of situations when the gangsters start to get suspicious.  In my personal favorite moment, when the gang members are talking about their past bloody deeds as their favorite moments of their lives, Rell brings up the time he got to see an early screening of The Blair Witch Project.

It is the off the cusp rapid fire banter between Key and Peele that make their performances, and the film itself, so engaging.  I also liked the way the movie tries to humanize some of the gangsters as the heroes actually develop some kind of friendship with a few of them during their time in the gang, such as when Clarence teaches some of them about the meaning behind George Michael's "Father Figure".  All in all, the movie just has a kind of sweet tone to it that appealed to me.  Yes, it does get violent at times and the four-letter words are not used sparingly here, but it is never offensive or trying to shock.  There is a playful sense of humor here that really grabbed me.  True, not all of the jokes work, obviously.  There is an extended sequence built around comic actress Anna Faris playing an exaggerated caricature of herself that could have been funnier, and a lot of the stuff concerning Will Forte as a low level weed dealer falls flat.  But, even when the jokes weren't working, I was still smiling.  Not only that, I knew that a big laugh would soon be on its way, and I was usually always right.

Those who are fans of Key and Peele's social satire from their show may be disappointed that it is largely absent here.  This is mainly a fairly standard action buddy comedy with a smart script, and two wonderful lead performances.  Keanu really just charmed me in a way that no other comedy so far this year has been able to.  It made me want to see what else the comic duo could do in another movie, maybe one that played even better to their strengths.  But most of all, it made me want to take little Keanu home.

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