[Screen It]

 

"KEANU"
(2016) (Jordan Peele, Keegan-Michael Key) (R)


Alcohol/Drugs Extreme
Blood/Gross Stuff Heavy
Disrespectful/Bad Attitude Extreme
Frightening/Tense Scenes Moderate
Gun/Weapons Extreme
Imitative Behavior Extreme
Jump Scenes Moderate
Music (Scary/Tense) Moderate
Music (Inappropriate) Heavy
Profanity Extreme
Sex/Nudity Extreme
Smoking Mild
Tense Family Scenes Moderate
Topics to Talk About Heavy
Violence Extreme


QUICK TAKE:
Action Comedy: Two non-violent, middle-class, suburban black men infiltrate a vicious street gang to steal back their beloved cat.
PLOT:
Rell's (JORDAN PEELE) longtime girlfriend has just broken up with him, and he doesn't feel like doing anything other than lying on the couch and smoking marijuana. His cousin, Clarence (KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY), has a weekend to himself, what with his wife, Hannah (NIA LONG), out of town with her daughter, and he wants to live it up. Rell snaps back to life when a mysterious kitten shows up at his door. He decides to take him in, name him "Keanu," and photograph him in funny posed movie scenes for a calendar.

Unfortunately, Rell's house suffers a break-in and Keanu is stolen. Rell goes to his next-door neighbor, drug dealer Hulka (WILL FORTE), who surmises that it was the work of a vicious street gang led by Cheddar (METHOD MAN). Rell and Clarence decide to retrieve Keanu by posing as two near-mythic assassins named the Allentown Gang and getting in good with Cheddar and his fellow gang members Hi-C (TIFFANY HADDISH), Bud (JASON MITCHELL), Stitches (JAMAR MALACHI NEIGHBORS), and Trunk (DARRELL BRITT-GIBSON).

Before long, they are mixed up in the gang lifestyle, demanding payment from a coked-up Anna Faris (HERSELF), running afoul of a Latino crime lord named Bacon (LUIS GUZMAN), and eventually tangling with the real Allentown thugs (also reportedly played by PEELE and KEY, clad in heavy trench coats, sporting dreadlocks, and shot mostly in shadow).

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?
The comedy and action elements should drawn interest from some older teens, especially if they're also fans of anyone in the cast.
WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R
For violence, language throughout, drug use, and sexuality/nudity.


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