The month of January is notorious for being a month when movie studios release their worst films — and Keanu Reeves’ Replicas just might lead the pack this year.
In the film, on which he also serves as a producer, Reeves plays a neuroscientist who is bent on cloning his family after they all die in a car accident.
Among other things, this puts him at odds with a government-controlled laboratory, the police and a bunch of ethical questions.
The film also stars Alice Eve who plays Reeves’ wife and Thomas Middleditch from the TV series Silicon Valley and those repetitive Verizon commercials.
How bad is Replicas? “It’s an amazing disasterpiece, and the first truly good bad movie of the year,” says Movieweb’s B. Alan Orange in his review of the film. “It’s very much his version of a Nicolas Cage type performance, where Reeves turns up the Keanu to 11, delivering lines that don’t belong in any movie.”
At least Replicas won’t be alone. According to Doug Norrie of Cinemablend, (who says “The trailer for Replicas has this sense of ‘trying too hard,’ and I bet the critics see it the same way”) expects the film to go down in flames alongside A Dog’s Way Home and The Upside.
Reeves’ career will probably bounce back just fine after it is all said and done. This isn’t his first rodeo nor is it his worst movie. According to Rotten Tomatoes, that distinction goes to Generation Um…, a movie described by IMDb as “Three adults during a single day in New York City, one filled with sex, drugs, and indecision.” The 2013 film featured Bojana Novakovic and Adelaide Clemens as co-stars and earned Reeves’ a 0% “rotten” score.
Like Cage, Reeves is known for starring in some of the most successful Hollywood movies of all time with Rotten Tomatoes ratings to match including Speed (1994), Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and Parenthood (1989) which all received a 93% “fresh” rating, John Wick (2014) and John Wick: Chapter Two (2017) both with high 87% and 89% “fresh” ratings, and The Matrix (1999) with a 88% “fresh” rating.
But the actor’s “bad” films appear to outnumber his “good” ones. Currently on Rotten Tomatoes, 34 of his film are listed as “rotten” while only 26 are listed as “fresh.”
Replicas will see its fate when it opens in theaters this Friday, January 11, and even if it does indeed do poorly, Reeves is bound to find success later this year when he appears in John Wick: Chapter 3, Toy Story 4 and maybe even with his long-awaited reunion with Alex Winter in Bill & Ted Face the Music.