USA TODAY International Edition
Keanu’s cool heats up the summer
It’s been 20 years since Keanu Reeves blew our minds in “Matrix” and 25 years since he and Sandra Bullock saved a bomb-rigged bus in “Speed.”
But the universe has deemed that the 54-year-old star shall have his greatest moment now, here in the Summer of Keanu Reeves.
The resurgence of Hollywood’s kindest heartthrob is the perfect “cool breeze over the mountains” (that’s what’s “Keanu” means in Hawaiian) in these overheated times. His starring role as the dog-loving assassin in “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,” which has propelled the franchise past the $500 million mark, is only part of the summer story.
Here’s why we’re experiencing Keanu Reeves bliss:
Keanu just stole ‘Toy Story 4’
Reeves not only has stepped into the iconic Pixar franchise, he’s already stealing “Toy Story 4” as Duke Caboom, the horseshoe-mustached greatest daredevil from Canada.
The goofy “Canuck with all the luck” character has received glowing social media marks from critics who’ve seen the film early (it hits theaters June 21).
“Keanu Reeves steals it all,” tweeted Slashfilm.com managing editor Jacob Hall.
“#DukeCaboom RULES! More Keanu please,” tweeted The Playlist creator Griffin Schiller.
Keanu slo-mo walked into a restaurant, hijacked ‘Always Be My Maybe’
Oh, my God! There he is! Keanu’s slow-motion, air-kissing restaurant entrance is the movie moment of the new Netflix rom-com “Always Be My Maybe,” maybe the moment of the whole summer.
Playing an obnoxious version of himself, Keanu greets Sasha Tran (Ali
Wong) as jealous Marcus Kim (Randall Park) watches.
“I missed your heart,” Keanu says between slow kisses. “I missed your soul.”
He’s so cosmically annoying that Marcus sings about punching Keanu Reeves with the lyrics, “I’m telling you, for real, I punched Neo. He could duck bullets but he couldn’t duck me.”
The Keanu walk has taken over
His “Always Be My Maybe” entrance has become immortalized with its own “keanu reeves walking to music” fan account on Twitter. Same Keanu walk, but set to different songs. That’s all. It’s already at 38K followers and counting.
The Twitter tributes have evolved; the newest viral rage is rhyming the star’s unusual name. Submissions such as “keanu reeves as a gardener: keanu leaves” or “Keanu Reeves as a butler: Keanu Jeeves” are setting the tone.
Even the fake Keanu news is beautiful
Last month, Malaysian lifestyle site
Star2.com quoted Reeves speaking about his lack of a love life at a New York news conference: “You know, I’m the lonely guy. I don’t have anyone in my life. But if it does occur, I would respect and love the other person; hopefully it’ll happen for me.”
The “Lonely Keanu” meme went viral with sympathetic fans reaching out. While the soulful words have imbued the Keanu legend, they are fake blues. In the outpouring of love that followed, the site backtracked, saying the “lonely” quote came from a 2003 interview.
Reeves’ representative, Cheryl Maisel, tells USA TODAY, “To my recollection, this was never asked nor answered in 2003 and absolutely not in 2019.”
He revealed his adorable crush on Sandra Bullock
Keanu definitely did talk about his 1994 “Speed” co-star Sandra Bullock on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” last month. When DeGeneres showed a clip of Bullock expressing her love for Keanu from a previous program, Keanu revealed the feeling had been mutual.
“She obviously didn’t know that I had a crush on her, either,” he said of Bullock, adding he couldn’t act on the feelings during filming. “We were working.”
“It was nice to go to work. She’s such a wonderful person.”
He already is owning the next two summers
The best part about Keanu owning summer is that he’s here to stay.
Plans have been announced for “John Wick 4,” expected May 21, 2021 (don’t count on a happy ending). And Reeves and Alex Winter are shooting their dimwitted time-traveling return in “Bill & Ted: Face the Music“(Aug. 21).
Both will ensure that we’ll be celebrating “Summer of Keanu: The Sequel.”