Much Keanu About Nothing

A lot of people say that Keanu Reeves cannot—nay, doesn’t—act. Can he, really? Is what he does in his movies “acting”? First off, let me say that I found him deliciously cute during the early part of his career (the Bill & Ted and Private Idaho era). But as he grew older and thinner, his sex appeal diminished for me. So my assessment of him is not tainted by any “ay-type-ko-siya” bias. By the time he did The Matrix, I found him handsome but very wooden, very flat. It’s like his personality disappeared. He took very varied roles, from drama to comedy to action; he worked in small films as well as Hollywood behemoths. But despite all that variety, Keanu always comes off as inscrutable, like you cannot find a man behind the character. He is a hollow man, filled with words from a script and actions from a director’s blocking. I suspect he actually acts, except that his features are so passive, even his eyes do not show the inner workings of his mind. And yet he remains picture-perfect, always camera-ready. Ultimately, Keanu is a star if not an actor. Call him Mr. Hollowood Star.