Television sketch shows — even those masterminded by formidable talents like Fry and Laurie or Mitchell and Webb — tend to leave me cold. They’re almost always inconsistent and require wading through a ton of flat and overextended gags to get to the good stuff. In my opinion, the exception to that rule was Comedy Central’s hilarious and deeply political Key & Peele, headlined by comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, a show that almost never included a sketch that didn’t kill. Thankfully, its intelligence and watchability extends to Keanu, the duo’s first feature film as co-leads. Their chemistry survives the 90-minute runtime and the sociopolitical subtext present in the show—while blunted somewhat for a multiplex audience—still gets to bare its teeth on occasion.
Key and Peele play Clarence, an uptight business consultant, and Rell, a stoner slacker, who find themselves forced to engage with the Los Angeles underworld while searching for the titular kitten. Said adorable feline, in an endearingly fannish twist on 2014’s instant classic John Wick (starring Keanu Reeves, of course), had just dragged Clarence out of a depressive post-breakup funk and he’ll be damned if he’s going to give it up to the drug-dealing gangster named Cheddar (played by rapper/actor Method Man) who stole it.
Key and Peele play Clarence, an uptight business consultant, and Rell, a stoner slacker, who find themselves forced to engage with the Los Angeles underworld while searching for the titular kitten. Said adorable feline, in an endearingly fannish twist on 2014’s instant classic John Wick.
Most of the comedy is mined from
Equally essential is the easy rapport between the headlining team. These two have been friends and collaborators for a long time and the 80s-style buddy-movie elements work beautifully for that reason. Films by sketch comedy teams aren’t necessarily known for their character work but Peele and Alex Rubens’ script gives that aspect some welcome attention before chaos descends. The friendship between the leads is thoughtfully essayed, with care taken to highlight the fact that the once-close cousins are growing apart due to the gap between their lifestyles, circumstances and levels of maturity. The film downshifts between some of its more frenetic gag sequences to touch upon their evolving relationship and is all the better for it.
This isn’t a perfect movie. There are a couple of unnecessarily protracted action scenes that remind you how much better John Wick is at that kind of thing. A romantic subplot feels shoehorned in despite Peele getting some good jokes out of it. And the kitten doesn’t get nearly enough scenes or little costumes. Ultimately though, for all the mainstream trappings, the film is saved by the fact that Key and Peele are just as subtle and subversive as ever. Even when they’re doing backflips in slow motion while shooting at drug dealers.