It’s the lack of inspired comedy from the drivers behind Key and Peele that makes Keanu a CATastrophe.

My terrible opening line pun had as much effort put into as this film did, and it pains me to be so harsh.

As a fan of the Comedy Central sketch show Key and Peele, I had tempered expectations for the duo’s first full-length feature. Despite their show being hit or miss from sketch to sketch, which is the expectation of sketch comedy, Jordan Peele and Keegan Michael-Key would go balls to the wall for any segment. That alone made each episode worth watching.

Keanu was missing that balls to the wall fearlessness exhibited in their show.

Yes, there were three dicks on a chain (that was funny) and there were a lot of exposed breasts at a strip club (and I mean A LOT), but most of the comedy was centered around George Michael.

The George Michael gig works for a bit, produces some laughs, and then eventually gets worn out. Worn out especially because there wasn’t much comedic material outside of the constant Michael callbacks.

Keanu is a cat. Why murderous drug dealers are so drawn to him goes unexplained. The implied reason we’re given is because he’s cute. Fair enough.

Keanu ends up at the door of Rell Williams, played by Jordan Peele. Rell is visited by his cousin Clarence, played by Keegan Michael-Key. The two have the weekend together as Clarence’s wife is gone, and Rell’s girlfriend recently broke up with him.

Rell grows a strange attachment to the kitten, only to immediately have Keanu stolen when his house is raided. Rell goes on a tirade searching for his cat leading him to a nude nightclub led by the 17th street Blips. The Blips are the rejects of the Bloods and the Crips, located on 17th street of course, which was the best laugh of the movie.

The leader of the Blips is Method Man, who in the movie is known as Cheddar. Rell and Clarence awkwardly convince Cheddar that they are the Allentown brothers whom are shown earlier in the movie in a massacre scene.

Cheddar has Rell and Clarence lead a drug deal promising Keanu in return. Clarence and Rell first have to convince their fellow Blips that they’re legit in an somewhat funny but still awkward team building scene. Afterwards, the group heads to Hollywood Hills for another weird and awkward scene with Anna Farris.

And if you haven’t caught the running theme by now, then maybe you liked this movie, but I found many scenes cringe-worthy rather than funny. Rell and Clarence’s front as two middle class black guys becoming gangster drug dealers is a good fish-out-of-water comedy premise. And with Key and Peele at the helm who have done there stereotypical roles well in their show, you’d expect there to be a smooth transition to their movie roles.

In Keanu, it doesn’t work. The writing plus goofy acting personas don’t mesh and sell the premise that these guys can really be gangbangers without insulting the audience’s intelligence.

The movie itself is never as far out there as the characters, leaving much to be desired. Director Peter Atencio, who directed the Comedy Central show, along with Key and Peele, this is a talented trio. This film doesn’t highlight their strengths but rather exposes the weaknesses of the ‘run of the mill’ buddy-cop genre.

Keanu is in a specific category of mediocre-bad films. It’s not a complete shite-show, and there are some occasional laughs, but overall, underwhelming.