'Keanu' exploits the internet's obsession with cats — and it pretty much works

If there’s one thing people love, it’s cats. Images of cats. Cute cat gifs. Adorable cat videos.

This weekend, Warner Bros. will test whether that internet obsession can translate into box-office dollars with "Keanu."

You’ve most likely seen some marketing for the movie — it stars Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele of Comedy Central’s "Key & Peele," and is centered around an adorable kitten who gets kidnapped.

Trailers have been saturated with the tiny cat in ridiculously shareable poses. 

Warner Bros. even released a spoof trailer where all of the characters were turned into cats.

While “Keanu” is not a movie I would by any means run out to theaters and go and see immediately — there are far too many other big event movies coming out this summer — the film does play into our contagious cat-loving culture. And the film is mostly aware of that.

The pint-sized feline opens and closes the film with over-the-top sequences. He gets his own Los Angeles montage sequence, and we’re spoiled with closeups on his face along with action shots of him running and jumping. We’re shown adorable image after adorable image of him posing for a cat calendar where he’s inserted into Warner Bros. movies like "Mad Max: Fury Road," "Se7en," "The Shining," and, fittingly, Keanu Reeves' "The Matrix."

(Note that real versions of this calendar exist. Warner Bros. sent them out to journalists as a freebie swag item ahead of release for marketing. If they were smart, they’d release them to consumers.)

We quickly learn that anyone who runs into this cat is rendered powerless to its cuteness, whether it's the goofy duo of Clarence (Key) and Rell (Peele), two murdering sociopaths who go by the moniker "Allentown brothers," or a drug dealer named Cheddar.

Clarence goes as far as to say what most people are thinking early in the film, "That’s the cutest cat I’ve ever seen in my life."

And by that point, you don’t even care if the movie has a plot. Granted, if you’ve watched trailers, you know the cat’s going to get stolen, but you’re so invested in the kitten that you just want to see more of it on screen.

As a viewer, you don’t really care that Clarence and his wife may be having some marital problems because you’re counting down the seconds until you can see the cute little furball again. What’s Keanu doing now? Is he going to be dressed up in a little outfit next? I don’t know because I’m being forced to watch Clarence’s neighbor have some sort of weird interest in his wife in a subplot you’re not going to care about.

Instead of cultivating the obsession the film introduces with the cat, it pulls a half-measure, putting a pin in Keanu saturation when the cat is kidnapped. While we are teased with a peek of the kitten in a do-rag here, and a drug dealer holding the cat in it’s arms there, we don’t largely see it again until the end of the film.

This is where my main complaint with Keanu comes in. While “Keanu” plays with the charm and humor of a 100-minute extended “Key & Peele” sketch, it could have had a little bit more of Keanu, because every scene with the kitten stole the show. While a film like “Deadpool” went all in after an impressive, over-the-top marketing run, “Keanu” leaves a bit to be desired.

Look at these mock posters poking fun at other big movies. There's so much hype for this movie about a cat. A cat!

I know the film’s about saving a kidnapped kitten from drug lords, a pretty silly premise, but the film starts losing focus on that midway through the film, especially in one scene with Anna Faris (yes, she’s in this movie, too) which goes on for a bit too long.

The marketing heavily relies on selling us this cat and that’s what viewers are coming for — the cat. They’re not coming for Faris and they’re not really coming to watch Key and Peele trying to fake it as gangsters.

Also distracting was the amount of subliminal product placement for other movies in the film, all from Warner Bros., which is distributing "Keanu." Especially noticeable more than once was a poster for "Edge of Tomorrow" on Rell’s apartment wall, which recently received a sequel.

The best part of the film comes during a drug-like high when one of the key characters envisions a speaking Keanu voiced by none other than Keanu Reeves himself. It’s a moment that was added late into the film, and it’s certainly the most satisfying. Had Reeves been on board earlier, I wonder if he would have been utilized a little more in the movie.

The film is also at its finest when grown men, drug dealers and gang overlords are fighting over possession of this tiny little kitten. It’s absolutely ridiculous, but you’re so invested in this cat that you let it go.

"Keanu" is very much a guilty pleasure. It says a lot about our culture to be captivated by cute, small animals. While it will keep you mildly entertained, this will not be one of the movies you’ll walk out of the theater eager to see again. If you’re a cat lover, you’ll probably enjoy it as long as you can handle hearing gratuitous use of the N-word over and over again.

"Keanu" is in theaters now.