This is Part 4 in a 5 part interview of me, by Aphra Behn.
If you missed them, here are: Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3.
4) Keanu Reeves - actor or eye candy? (With examples from at least four of his films, please!)
Keanu Reeves, I'm sorry to say, does not have that addict charm I find so appealing in men. So, yes, believe it or not, I love to watching him for his acting. Now I'm not saying (and you will note the question did not specify this either) that his acting is good, only that it is entertaining. No, wait. It's riveting. Riveting in that "somewhat horrifying but too fascinating too look away" way. He is the artistic heir to William Shatner, another of my favorite actors ever. The aspect of Keanu's acting I enjoy most is his ability to deliver his lines in a way that causes you to mentally add "dude" to the end of them. Consider the following...
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
This is Keanu's signature work, in which, I have always suspected, he simply plays himself. All other roles, spanning the vast artistic range from Ted Theodore Logan reads Shakespeare
A Walk in the Clouds
This is possibly Keanu's greatest comedic work to date. I saw this movie in the theater and spent the entire time roaring with laughter while the teenage girls in the audience sighed with rapture, smitten with Keanu. (Mark spent the entire time hiding under the seats because I was making him look bad in front of the teenage girls he was hoping to hit on later.)
My favorite part of the whole movie is when Keanu, in an attempt to win over the father of the woman he loves, finds the sole grape vine still living after a fire destroys the father's vineyard, pulls the vine out of the ground and brings it to the father, like a cat bringing home a dead mouse. Yes, he found a live vine, but he ripped it out of the ground to prove it. Now, you may say that Keanu received a great deal of assistance from the atrocious script, and you would be correct. But only Keanu could deliver the line "your daughter is like the air to me" in a way that begs one to mentally add "dude" to it.
Point Break
One can't help but love a movie starring Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves as surfers. What I love most about Keanu's acting in this movie makes a believable beach bum but an utterly unbelievable former-college-football-star-turned-FBI-agent. And he delivers my favorite line in the movie, "I am an FBI agent," with his trademark "dude" panache.
Johnny Mnemonic
For some reason Mark and I saw this movie (in an actual theater; yes, we're Keanu Reeves freaks) while on vacation in a different part of the country. I had an upset stomach and was desperately trying to hold on until the end of the movie before dashing to the ladies' room. But my suffering paid off when I got to watch Keanu bemoaning his life and shouting (with classic "dude" delivery) "I want room service!" That scene made the entire movie.
OTHER KEANU ODDS AND ENDS:
Three Best Keanu Reeves Movies:
- The Matrix
- It's my favorite metaphor for addiction.
- Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
- Kelly once gave my a stuffed bear that looked like a dog. I named it Ted Theodore Dogbear in honor of Keanu's part in this movie. Following in the acting footsteps of its namesake, it once starred as a dog in a skit I did for German class. I lost it while on a business trip when it got tangled in the sheets in a hotel room and left behind. (Yeah, so what if I took a stuffed animal along to sleep with on a business trip; I get lonely in bed without Mark!) I never recovered it and still miss it.
- Speed
- Dude, it's an action movie about a bus! How ridiculous and cool is that?! The denouement was a little lengthy, but still: Action movie about a bus!
Worst Keanu Reeves Movie:
Devil's Advocate
I never thought I could say this about any of Keanu's movies but: BORING!
Silliest Keanu Reeves Movie:
The Watcher
I'm a bit obsessed with serial killers and profiling. I think movies in which serial killers do unrealistic things like fight the cops are silly. And silly serial killer movies that star Keanu as the killer? Well...
Most Forgettable Keanu Reeves Movie:
Chain Reaction
I forgot this movie even existed, let alone that I'd seen it, until I was looking over Keanu's filmography while writing this post!
My Near Brush With Keanu:
Keanu's band, Dogstar, was playing at a club near where Mark and I used to live. We walked past as they were setting up, but we couldn't get tickets to the show. Still, I felt Keanu's presence and that was good enough.
I totally need to go watch some Keanu now, dude.
Not only did I see Dogstar play in NY, I was part of the horde of women who just ignored the lead singer, angled ourselves slightly to the right and just stared at Keanu. It was eerie, probably to quietest concert I'd ever been too. It was other worldly.
and I like to think keanu's greatest moment is My own private Idaho, with my dead boyfriend, River.
How come she didn't ask about Johnny Depp????
Danielle, I haven't seen nearly as many Johnny Depp movies. It had to be Keanu!
Vowels, I'm jealous that you got to see Dogstar!
I'm with Danielle! Johnny Depp is the sexiest man on the planet, although I hear that he's actually quite small (5'9") so I'm not sure if I'd take him once he breaks up with Vanessa Paradis. I want to have tall children!
If 5'9 is too short than just step back and hands off!! : )
KReeves in Point Break. Yum.
I giggled all the way through this post because, and I am not ashamed to admit this, I spent the entire 8th grade summer watching Bill and Ted and I can hear the lines you are posting! lol