Why Generation Um Is Keanu Reeves’ Worst Movie

Keanu Reeves has starred in plenty of duds during his acting career, but Generation Um… is without a doubt his worst movie to date. Keanu Reeves started acting in the mid-1980s, but his big break came when he starred opposite Alex Winter in the 1989 cult comedy Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Today, he has more than 80 movies under his belt and has dipped his toes into a diverse range of genres – from sci-fi and horror to action and rom-com.

Over the course of his near 40-year career, Reeves has appeared in some great movies. He earned acclaim for playing street hustler Scott Favor in Gus Van Sant’s indie drama My Own Private Idaho and will always be remembered for his role as brooding protagonist Neo in the Wachowski Sisters’ groundbreaking Matrix franchise. He shared sizzling chemistry with co-star Diane Keaton in romantic comedy Something’s Gotta Give and is enjoying a late-career comeback with his role as the titular dog-loving assassin in the John Wick series.

However, like a lot of actors, Reeves has made his fair share of bad movies too. The 1993 comedy Even Cowgirls Get The Blues – his second collaboration with Gus Van Sant – was a Golden Raspberry-nominated flop, for example. Similarly, 47 Ronin was a confused and unnecessary remake that bombed at the box office while Reeves failed to convince as a serial killer in the 2000 thriller The Watcher. But as bad as those movies were, they’re nowhere near as terrible as Generation Um….

Written and directed by Mark L. Mann, Generation Um… is an indie drama set in New York City that was released in 2013. Keanu Reeves role is lost soul and escort agency driver John whose job involves ferrying around two sex workers named Violet (Bojana Novakovic) and Mia (Adelaide Clemens). The film follows the trio as they aimlessly wander the city contemplating the futility of their existence and documenting their misadventures and musings with a stolen video camera. Presumably, it aspires to be a meaningful mumblecore movie but unfortunately, Generation Um… is just quite tedious and nowhere near as deep as it likes to think it is.

Reviews for Generation Um… are testament to just how bad a movie it is. “Pretentious”, “shallow” and “pointless” are just a few things that critics had to say about the film while Justin Chang described it as a “feature-length expansion of 2010’s “Sad Keanu” meme” in his review for Variety. It’s also the lowest-rated Keanu Reeves movie on Rotten Tomatoes where Generation Um… boasts the dubious distinction of being one of just a few dozen movies to score a 0% rating on the site.

Keanu Reeves’ Generation Um… might be terrible but it’s just a footnote in his long career. Considering upcoming sequels to two of his best-loved franchises (namely The Matrix Revolutions and John Wick: Chapter 4), the movie misstep that was Generation Um… probably isn’t something that keeps him up at night.