Normally we don’t get jealous much when it comes to Barack Obama and movie screenings. However, given the huge amount of buzz that has been humming around “Keanu,” the first movie from the visionary African American comedic duo of Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key, we are a little miffed that Obama might see it first at the SXSW music, art and technology festival where “Keanu” is slated to premier Saturday, March 12 at 12:30 am during an exclusive after midnight premiere screening in Austin, Texas, one month ahead of it’s nationwide opening April 29th. While we don’t know if Obama will in fact be in that ” Keanu” audience, we do know that he is missing Nancy Regan’s funeral due to commitments connected to SXSW and that he could be there – which we also wish that we could say about ourselves as well as you and here is why:
- “Keanu” is a comedic spoof of all things Keanu Reeves film related, as seen through the fish eye urban lens of Jordan Peele. Key and Peele proved a hilarious duo when it came to their sketch show “Key & Peele” on Comedy Central. “Keanu” which is written by Peele along with Alex Rubens who was a writer on “Key & Peele”, also boasts director Peter Atencio who also served as a director on “Key & Peele.” Given this creative lineup, “Keanu” effectively delivers the whole dream team when it comes to Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele comedic excellence.
- In “Keanu”, the comedic action starts “John Wick” style, with an unlikely bad ass getting thrown back into the game when a crime syndicate takes his beloved pet. While this alone has spoof written all over it, in “Keanu” the pet is a kitten who is in fact named Keanu and this feline throws two black geeks into a gang war. Enough said.
- It’s time for a new motion picture dynamic duo of color, and Key and Peele might just fit the bill. In the past, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence had their time as the “it” action funny men in “Bad Boys.” Eddie Murphy did it for all time with Dan Aykroyd in “Trading Places,” and if you are really schooled on comedy, Richard Pryor was the man with Gene Wilder in “Stir Crazy.” These were all dynamic duos that came straight out of television sketch comedy. As such, this movie might be the start of something that we’ve been missing born from a comedic two pronged #NotSoWhite sketch comedy team.
- Finally, by association, Keanu Reeves via Key and Peele, after all of these years of being “the one” by infiltrating bank robbing surfers, time traveling for “awesome” adventures and fighting in a post apocalyptic future that requires mind bending pills, is mixing it up as a “p####” in the hood. Enough said.
- As a supporting cast, both Method Man and Nia Long are on hand doing their supporting cast thing opposite Key and Peele. I don’t know about you, but we’ve been seriously into these guys on principle for a minute, 0-kay?
- Similar to “Deadpool,” which turned out to be a huge thing that we had never seen before as an ultra cool, cutting edge cinematic superhero, our heroes in “Keanu” have an authentic appreciation for retro George Michael hits. This movie trait just might be THE real life sign for good underground things to come – like Neo following that rabbit in the original “Matrix.”
So, enough of this list, right? Check it out for yourself here to see if we know what we are talking about: