Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele are trapped by cultural expectations in KEANU (Steve Dietl/Warner Bros. Pictures)
Are children’s talking animal movies really the product of a drug-induced fever dream? Keanu, the first feature from the duo of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, suggests as much. But if a kitten caught in the middle of a drug war seems like a thin premise for a 90-minute film, hang in there, baby, there’s more to it than that.
A violent prelude sets up the movie’s blend of graphic violence, adorable kitten, and destructive standards of masculinity. Somewhere in Los Angeles, a church converted into a drug lab is attacked by brutal figures called the Allentown brothers. These massive, long-haired mofos do athletic flips as they take out their drug land rivals, but in the center of this corrupted landscape roams a picture of innocence in the form of a cute, helpless little kitty.
Like the viewer, the Allentowns are reduced to jelly by a big-eyed baby. But as human animal bonds with feline animal, the latter gets loose, frolicking past iconic LA movie locations like the Sixth Street Bridge before showing up on the doorstep of Rell Williams (Peele). Rell is an aimless stoner who’s just broken up with his girlfriend, but the new arrival, whom he calls Keanu, gives him a new purpose in life. No more days spent curled up with a bong on the couch, Rell renews his interest in photography by creating hilarious staged photos of Keanu in different movie scenarios from the likes of Reservoir Dogs and The Shining.
Meanwhile, Rell’s friend Clarence (Key) is a seemingly more successful adult. He stays home while his wife Hannah (Nia Long) and daughter go on a trip, and while Hannah encourages him to relax and “just be you,” Clarence isn’t really sure what that means.
When Keanu disappears, Rell and Clarence are forced to enter hostile gang territory to retrieve kitty from its new master: drug kingpin Cheddar (Method Man). The friends try to pass themselves off as tough guys and end up pretending they’re the Allentown Brothers in order to gain street cred. Are they up to it?
Rell and Clarence are complete nerds; a running joke has Clarence grooving along to a George Michael CD. This is where the movie intriguingly addresses expectations of masculinity: the well-disguised duo plays a dual role as the Allentown brothers, monstrous visions of the uberman. While even these ogres find comfort in a kitten, the film asks a provocative question: who is more fit to take care of a helpless kitten: street-smart gangsters, or sensitive girly men?
On the surface, Keanu threatens to be a comedy sketch padded out to feature length, but along the way the movie asks interesting questions about cultural expectations: what does it mean to be black, to be white, to be a man, to be real?
The movie has some fun with genre conventions as well. Keanu takes place over a span of about seven months, but the kitten stays the same size throughout the movie. Seven different kittens were used to play the title role simply because they kept growing up. Any cat person who’s seen the trailers may be disappointed that the seven kittens don’t get even more screen time, but there are plenty of laughs—and some provocative subtext—to get you through the non-kitten action.
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Keanu
Directed by Peter Atencio
Written by Jordan Peele and Alex Rubens
With Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Tiffany Haddish, Method Man
Rated R for violence, language throughout, drug use and sexuality/nudity
98 minutes
Opens today at a multiplex near you
