Keanu  (2016)

Whenever I see clips of Key & Peele, I laugh, and I always mean to go back and watch more of their show. Then, life gets in the way, other things are higher on my 'Watch List', and I forget about. I had been meaning to get to "Keanu" after some good reviews from the likes of Free Beer & Joe, and while it was funny, it wasn't as great as it was built up to be.

A drug dealer's operation is ambushed, and during the chaos he loses his kitten. The kitty ends up on the doorstep of Rell (Jordan Peel), a depressed slacker, who immediately falls in love. When another drug dealer steals the animal back, Rell enlists his cousin Clarence (Keegan-Michael Key) leave the suburbs and dive into the world of gangstas.

Most of the gags were funny, but occasionally I felt sort of uncomfortable with the fact that I was laughing. Dave Chappelle has often said the main reason he left his show was that he felt like too many white college bros were laughing simply because he was using the n-word, and not understanding the satire of what he was doing. During a lot of "Keanu", I found myself being pulled out of the movie and wondering "wait, is this just funny because you wouldn't expect these characters to be dropping n-bombs" and the humor came from the shock value, or was it more satirical. These feelings came in waves, as some points really felt like it was just relying on shock and other points felt more natural in terms of the story and characters.

I really liked the work by Key & Peele; Method Man was awesome; Tiffany Haddish always annoys me with her comedic work, but playing something heavier worked this time; the rest of the supporting cast was good too. Was it anything visionary, anything unexpected, anything I have never seen before? Not really. Was it still fun and enjoyable? Sure.

[Celluloid Hero] gives "Keanu" a 6 out of 10.