Good Keau roles, from a brief glance at Wiki. Note this is a quick glance, so I may be quick about tossing something debateable into the good or bad column:
Rivers Edge - Not really sure of Keanu's acting background before this, but there are few roles. In this, he plays a dumbass high school studnt very well. This is a He's Playing Keanu movie, though, and he has the old sdchool Keanu look. He could be Ted's slightly younger brother in this.
Bill & Ted movies - I was going to ignore these because of the whole comedy thng, but a good role is a good role. Even if it is kind of slight, this is probably what Keanu is most well known for outside of The Matrix, and it would be difficult to argue that his performance doesn't add to these movies. I can't think of anyone else that should have had his part in these. Also, the sequel is not as good as the original. Just saying that because that is one of those things Willco likes to argue about that makes question marks appear over my head.
Point Break - Um, a dumb fun movie that sort of falls into a similar category of ridiculousness as Speed. Much like Bill and Ted, this movie kind of plays to Keanu's acting "strengths" and there probably wasn't a more perfect actor at the time to have his part. Keanu as EXXTREME SURFER with PATRICK SWAYZE and GARY BUSEY? EXTREME. Note that I haven't seen this in like at least ten years and it is probably completely terrible.
The Devil's Advocate - I guess he does okay in this. The movie is kind of bad and Al Pacino is embarassing in this movie. At best I am neutral on the Keanu-O-Meter for this one. If Keanu is doing better than Al Pacino in any given movie, he earns props by default.
The Matrix - I'm taking the sequels out of the equation because even though I do think they are decent, they are both kind of total messes. Keanu does well in the first one, though. In the right light, his vapidness can be mistaken for a sort of stoicness, and I guess that light is green. The concept of Keanu owning something with Baudrillard's name on it is still a LAFF RIOT though.
The Gift - It's been a few years. After the Spider-Man abortions hitting the floor, I can't really bring myself to watch anything by Raimi. To those whom much is given, much is expected. Anyway, I remember this movie being slightly inferior to A Simple Plan, but it still had a decent low rent Coen Brothers sheen to it. I actually don't recall if Keanu puts on a good performance here, but at the very least it is funny to see him play against type. Hillbilly Keanu. So. Awesome.
A Scanner Darkly - Keanu Plays Keanu: The Next Generation. Here we get Keanu playing a drug-addled dumbass again, this time filtered through the genius of both Richard Linklater and Philip K. Dick. I think Keanu stumbles through some material in this movie, but the embarassing delivery that accopanies so many of his famous faux pas is nowhere to be found. That sounds like faint praise, but this movie was teetering on the brink of greatness and complete mehness, and if certain other elements were fixed but Keanu's performance was largely identical, it would still move closer to the greatness side of the equation. Consider Keanu like this similar to the Shia in Indy situation: at first I was wary, but in the end it worked out fine (well, I'm assuming here, Shia. Don't fuck me in the ass with your ugly rat head).
