Comedy duo Key & Peele (aka Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele) wrapped up their brilliant sketch show on Comedy Central after five seasons last year. They left at their peak to make the leap to film, with the duo producing a Police Academy soft reboot, and Peele making his directorial debut with a Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? parody called Get Out. But first, they have their joint feature film project, Keanu, which just released its first trailer.
Keanu is a clear riff on John Wick, from the animal endangerment angle, to invoking Keanu Reeves’ name, to the over the top violence. The hook is that there’s a cute kitten and not a helpless puppy, and that instead of John Wick, an unrelenting badass played by Keanu Reeves, Keanu has Key & Peele playing a couple of dorks in way over their heads while trying to rescue Kitten Keanu. I’m cool with whatever Key & Peele want to do—they’re genius comedy writers—but this is a particularly inspired idea. John Wick has quietly gained a rabid fanbase over the last couple years, so there are plenty of people who will get the reference, but at the same time, this will play as a straight action comedy for those not in the know. Key & Peele excel at meta layers, and Keanu looks like a feature-film length version of one of their absurdist sketches. I cannot wait for April 22.
