Wait 'til you get a load of meow
Freewheeling comedy Keanu stars TV sketch show duo Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele as two LA friends from the suburbs who get dangerously out of their depth when they pose as fearsome gangsters to get back a stolen kitten.
The film’s big joke is that the biracial pair are hopelessly square and mild-mannered: the last people you could imagine pulling off their assumed identities as swaggering desperados ‘Tectonic’ and ‘Shark Tank’. Somehow, though, Key’s character does manage to convince a bunch of drug dealers that George Michael, his favourite musician, is a badass, putting hilarious menace into the fate of Michael’s Wham! sidekick Andrew Ridgeley. ‘Nobody ever seen him again.’
To be honest, their misadventures get stretched rather thin. But the stars’ chemistry is sublime and the gags hit more often than they miss. On top of which, the missing feline (the ‘Keanu’ of the title) couldn’t be cuter. Incidentally, Peele followed up his role here by writing and directing another movie dealing with racial taboos and sensitivities, but one in a very different vein: this year’s surprise horror hit Get Out.
Certificate 15. Runtime 98 mins. Director Peter Atencio
Keanu debuts on Sky Cinema Premiere on Saturday 6 May. Available on Blu-ray & DVD from Warner Home Video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9zy27apgI8
