Cute cats in film seem to be a recurring theme in comedy films this year. Nine Lives and The Secret of Pets both showcase some furry friends in their films. In Keanu, a kitten (Keanu) is stolen from a drug lord by two notorious assassins: Oil and Smoke Dresden who then lose the kitten after a run-in with the police. Rell, played by Jordan Peele, finds the cat and immediately falls in love with it. After taking pictures of Keanu, Rell goes out with his cousin Clarence, played by Keegan-Michael key. Drug dealers break into Rell’s house while they’re gone and steal Keanu. In order to get his kitten back, the two pose as fake drug dealers in order to gain the attention of the man who has their cat, who also happens to be the main drug lord. They then go on to take the whole fake drug dealer thing a little too far by killing some people and stealing some drugs. All for a kitten.

Comedy duo Key and Peele are the masterminds behind this film. You may know them from their skits on Comedy Central and their Youtube videos which have become viral sensations. Keanu is their first attempt at making their skits a feature length film, and it is pretty good first effort.  

The film is genuinely hilarious at certain points, but at other parts it seems like their jokes are highly unoriginal. There is a scene where two of the main characters go to a celebrity’s house and she tries drugging them and killing them. I don’t want to ruin the surprise of who they are but the cameo is fantastic. This is a very rated R comedy and some parts may be offensive to others. There are a lot of jokes involving racial stereotypes and completely flipping the normality of it. Their popular skits also tend to lean on racial stereotypes and jokes.

Key and Peele’s chemistry on screen is fantastic and their characters are the best in the film. One of the reasons that I am a fan of Key and Peele is because they remind me of a more adult version of one of my favorite TV shows as a kid: Kenan and Kel. Where the movie loses it steam for me is toward the end of the film. It gets very dependent on large-scale action sequences (the car chases and the murder) and you lose the comedy that was going on toward the beginning of the film. I expected Keanu to be a gut busting comedy, which it was; however, I felt that the action side of the film took away from the comedy aspect of the film and made me enjoy the film a little bit less. But let’s talk about the real star of the film: Keanu himself. Warner Brothers casted the most adorable kitten in the entire world for this film. If you are a cat person, you will absolutely love seeing Keanu is on screen.

Keanu was a critical success but, unsurprisingly, a box office failure. The film only grossed $20,591,853, which is kind of disappointing considering that the film is actually really funny and a great way to spend time with your friends. Overall, Keanu is definitely worth renting on Redbox if you are a fan of cute kittens or the comedy power duo Key and Peele. Keanu is now available on BluRay and Digital HD and is available at Redbox as of August 30th.