Keanu
Warner Bros. | Release Date: April 29, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
63
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
26
Mixed:
9
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
HitfixRoth CornetApr 25, 2016
Visceral action (including an opening sequence that masterfully sets the tone for the rest of the film); a sharply written and directed script; rich, dynamic characters; and, as promised, the world’s cutest cat (other than yours if you have one) combine to create a gut-busting, endearing, salty-sweet, and highly re-watchable comedy. Read full review
80
Village VoiceApril WolfeMay 5, 2016
Key and Peele have a special kind of magic they’ve brought to their first feature, but it’s also a crazy-simple formula: Keep saving that damn cat. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicKerry LengelApr 28, 2016
If Keanu sometimes comes off as another sketch stretched a little thin, that doesn’t put it in too shabby of company. It may not be as great as “The Blues Brothers,” but it’s up there with “Wayne’s World” — and light-years ahead of “Coneheads.” Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comAngelica Jade BastienApr 29, 2016
Keanu, directed by Peter Atencio, only provides you exactly what you expect and nothing more. In many ways, it plays like a less subversive sketch from the duos magnificent, defunct show “Key and Peele," been ballooned to 98 minutes — the film’s greatest problem. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversApr 29, 2016
Even when the laughs don't always snap, Key and Peele are ready with another one or a dozen that do. These dudes really are the cat's meow. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzApr 28, 2016
The plot is threadbare, but cutely disarming in its own way. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldApr 28, 2016
Key and Peele’s fast-talking chemistry, as they shift their language instantly from suburbanite to street (a theme in many of their sketches), make Clarence and Rell’s transformation into bellowing, gun-wielding tough guys and back again feel fresh and often very funny. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubApr 28, 2016
It gives fans what they want, while also working most of the time as pulse-pounding escapism. Even though he has almost nothing to do with the actual movie, the spirit of a “Speed”-era Keanu Reeves is present throughout. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartApr 28, 2016
A funny, shambling buddy comedy that mostly serves as a vehicle for our two stars to do what they do best, which is riff on race and pop culture. Read full review
75
The Film StageBrian RoanApr 28, 2016
Keanu is a lightweight film with heavyweight laughs, a completely satisfying comedy experience from start to finish. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonApr 28, 2016
Keanu is an uneven but frequently hilarious comedy that relies heavily on the appeal of Key and Peele. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanApr 28, 2016
The real surprise is not that the high-strung Key and grounded Peele have rapport – their sketches demonstrate that – but that it can be used to anchor a full-length comedy. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinApr 30, 2016
In my frequent role as “laugh accountant” for mainstream comedies, I’d estimate two-thirds of it works, and when it’s good it’s sooooo good — good enough to make you want to see Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key and director Peter Atencio and co-writer Alex Rubens do it again and go farther out. Read full review
70
New York Daily NewsEdward DouglasApr 28, 2016
Maybe Keanu would have been stronger in the hands of a more experienced director — they brought Peter Atencio over from their show — but Key and Peele know how to deliver the laughs and killer chemistry. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMar 13, 2016
This may not be adequate compensation for the end of their series, which gave them so many more opportunities to try on new personalities and take one-gag ideas for a spin. But it will delight the show's fans while winning over others unlucky enough never to have seen it. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyDevan CogganApr 29, 2016
Even if it can’t compete with the best highlights from their TV show, Keanu is a solid first step into movie stardom for both Key and Peele. Read full review
67
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonApr 28, 2016
Keanu gets a lot of things right, and almost just as many things wrong. Still, there’s absolutely enough here to make it worthwhile, especially if you’re a Key and Peele fan. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Apr 28, 2016
The film is a one-joke comedy, but the joke is decent, and it helps that the actors know how to deliver it. Read full review
67
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallApr 28, 2016
Keanu is raucous enough to satisfy the Hangover crowd, yet when compared to Key and Peele's trenchant tomfoolery on television, it needs focused anger, funnier tension. Or perhaps simply more kitty cat. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisApr 27, 2016
With its unconventional take on pet sounds, Keanu is refreshingly silly, an unabashed mix of humor and violence topped off by a big dollop of cuteness. Read full review
67
IndieWireEric KohnMar 13, 2016
Wildly entertaining in parts, Keanu overstays its welcome and just keeps going, showing the growing pains of sketch comedy drawn out to epic proportions. Read full review
65
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeMay 5, 2016
This crime comedy doesn’t consistently deliver, but the highs make the lows worth enduring. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrApr 28, 2016
If you’re in the right mood and seeing it with the right crowd, Keanu can put you close to a giggle coma, even as you realize the material’s far beneath the talents of its stars. They’re Key and Peele, but the movie treats them like Abbott and Costello. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsApr 28, 2016
The movie is hit-and-miss in an unusually clear-cut way. It's funny for 45-50 minutes. Then it's strained and abrasive and entirely too devoted to action-movie tropes for 45-50 minutes, minus end credits. I can recommend the first half. Read full review
63
USA TodayBrian TruittApr 28, 2016
It’s a sketch-type conceit stretched to movie length that wears thin at times. When the stars are on their game, though, they keep the laughs coming. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 27, 2016
It’s wildly uneven, rather like their TV series... And it is wincingly violent, with some of the John Woo-style slo-mo shootouts going on too long and spilling too much blood. But the chemistry is still there, the banter between the bald, bug-eyed, high-maintenance metrosexual Keegan Michael Key and the slow-burning Peele still zings. Read full review
60
EmpireNick de SemlyenJul 18, 2016
Considering it’s the debut of one of TV’s hottest double-acts, Keanu is a slight disappointment. But there’s plenty of funny stuff, and George Michael fans in particular should have faith, faith, faith. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyJul 14, 2016
Keanu is cool and breezy enough to live up to its title amply. Read full review
60
Time OutTom HuddlestonMay 6, 2016
It’s ironic, but Keanu might be a better movie if it was more like TV: 90 plotless minutes of Key and Peele just goofing around on the mean streets might’ve been something really special. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerMolly EichelApr 28, 2016
Keanu doesn't go far enough. Key & Peele was searing and incisive about race and American culture, and Keanu doesn't even scratch the surface. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisApr 28, 2016
As the genre machinery chugs along, the bang-bang begins to overwhelm the movie, and the underlying critique gives way to a what-me-worry shrug. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineEric HendersonApr 28, 2016
Keanu is declawed by design, but it's hard not to wonder what the cat could've dragged in. Read full review
50
The PlaylistCharlie SchmidlinMar 14, 2016
After five incredible seasons of “Key & Peele” skewering black masculinity in its various forms, the duo here settle for an uninspired riff on Los Angeles gang culture, stringing together fish-out-of-water vignettes by using a stray kitten as thread. Read full review
40
The GuardianNigel M SmithMar 14, 2016
If there was a strong enough story to latch the jokes on to, Keanu might have worked. As it stands, it reeks of a grossly underdeveloped sketch extended to feature length. Read full review
40
VarietyJustin ChangMar 13, 2016
An initially amusing but fatally overstretched action-comedy that marks a lamer-than-expected big-screen outing for Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele. Read full review
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