Keanu is a very funny movie starring the world’s cutest kitten. It has biting satire and furry sex appeal.
Just be prepared when you go in for a great deal of profanity, with the liberal use of the N-word on the level of Straight Outta Compton, pole dancing by women with dental floss thick G-strings, drug dealing, murder and, oh, a great deal of George Michael’s 80s-90s rock and roll.
The genius of Keanu lies in the two leads, comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele – no, three leads, including the kitten – and the fact that the improbability of the plot comes to a satisfactory resolution despite great odds and a chase scene out of any Liam Neeson movie.
Suburban dad Clarence (Key) lives in a nice Los Angeles home in a middle-class neighborhood. His cousin, Rell, (Peele) whose girlfriend has just dumped him, finds a lost kitten on his doorstep and names it Keanu.
The kitten is kidnapped when robbers hit Rell’s home, thinking it belongs to the pot-growing neighbor. They take the kitten to their drug dealer boss, Cheddar, at the local strip club, named Hot Party Vixens or HPV. (Yes, you read that acronym correctly.)
Through a complicated and hilarious plot, these two normal American men go after the kitten – a path that winds through Hollywood, illegal drug distribution, illegal drug use, and mass murder a la Quentin Tarentino slo-mo action scenes.
In fact, if you like Tarantino movies, you should enjoy Keanu because they is clearly an inspiration for many scenes. There is a direct homage to Kill Bill
To me the funniest scene is when Clarence bonds with four of Cheddar’s thugs while waiting for Rell to deliver some drugs. You sit there wondering what is going to happen next as Daddy Clarence soothes the savage spirits in the back seats of his mini-van to the music of George Michael’s Father Figure.
For those who don’t know Key and Peele, they starred in a series on the US cable channel, Comedy Central after being on Fox’s MADtv. Key was priceless as Luther, the Anger Translator for President Obama at the 2015 White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington D.C.
I suspect that Keanu will end up a cult classic. Don’t go in expecting a bland, funny movie. It’s a foul-mouthed, improbably plotted, incredibly funny action flick. With a kitten.
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