Keanu Reeves' KNOCK KNOCK Is an Embarrassing Mess - Sundance 2015 Review
First thing you need to know before I begin is that I have a soft spot for Keanu Reeves. I know he's not the greatest actor in the world, but over the years I've enjoyed his films, and I'm a fan. Unfortunately, director Eli Roth's latest torture thriller isn't one of his best. I didn't like this movie at all, and I don't know how or why it was made. I personally believe that this is the most embarrassing movie that Reeves has starred in, and it makes me sad. Apparently the actor jumped at the opportunity to star in it, though. I'm not sure why, unless he thought it would be a fun filmmaking experience, and maybe it was fun! The thing is, a movie can be bad even if it was fun to make.
We all got to see Reeves kick some major ass in John Wick, but the tables are turned on him in Knock Knock. Instead, he unbelievably gets his ass handed to him by a couple of petite young girls, which would never happen in real life.
Reeves plays a happily married man with two kids, and the first fifteen minutes of the movie focuses on his character and shows him being a loving and fun father and husband. It's Father's Day, and his wife is taking the kids to a weekend retreat at the beach while he stays back to finish up a project for work. Later that night, two young, good-looking girls show up at his doorstep in the middle of a rainstorm, soaking wet and asking for help. He obliges, lets them into his house, and the madness begins. They are innocently flirtatious at first, but the flirtation escalates, and he tries to dodge their advances as much as he can until their ride arrives to pick them up. They lure the poor basted into the bathroom where they proceed to have their way with him. He tries to fight it off at first, but the temptation is just too heavy once they both go down on him.
From that point on, things take a turn for the nightmarishly worse. These girls are absolutely psycho bitches, and they put him through utter hell. At one point they even rape him. I won't spoil everything they do to this guy, but these girls are out to completely ruin his life and destroy him. It really sucks to see what they put him through. It's pretty jacked up, and unfortunately, Reeves just can't completely sell the pain and agony that he's going through.
The concept and story isn't really anything we haven't seen before, but it was poorly executed in this movie, and Reeves gave the worst performance of his career. I'm sorry, Keanu. I'm a huge fan, but it was bad. I don't blame Reeves though! I blame Roth, who should never be allowed to make a movie again. The guy only knows how to make one kind of film, and he's not even very good at that. It's his fault and his direction that I think made Keanu as bad as he was. On top of that, the script was atrocious! It's amazing too me that he got the money to make this flick.
I will say, though, that the best part of the movie was the very end. I won't spoil what happens, but it sure did make me laugh. I just don't know if it's worth sitting through the entire terrible movie for that one genuine laugh. Of course, you'll probably laugh at the movie as a whole while you watch it.
Now, if you want to see Reeves do some legendary bad acting, be the victim of rape, and desperately plead for his life as he's tortured, then by all means watch the movie. Just know going into it that it's a terribly made and laughably bad film. Who knows, maybe that's what Roth was going for.
Here's the description of the film:
Evan Webber (Keanu Reeves) is living the dream. Just look at his beautiful, successful wife, his two wonderful kids, and his truly stunning house—which he designed himself. Of course he did. Things are going so well, Evan doesn't even mind spending Father's Day alone while the rest of his family heads out for a beach weekend. And then there’s a knock on the door.
The two young women (Lorenza Izzo and Ana de Armas) standing on Evan's doorstep are where Evan's dream takes a nightmarish turn. Given co-writer/director Eli Roth's well-deserved reputation for creating cinematic discomfort, it should come as no surprise what happens next: Things get weird, and then dark, and then much, much, much darker. But this is no splatter film, so Roth keeps the horror nice and psychological as Evan's life—and house—get ripped apart, piece by beautiful piece.