Reeves turned down an offer to star in the 1997 film Speed 2: Cruise Control, despite being offered a salary of $12 million.[82] According to Reeves, this decision caused 20th Century Fox to sever ties with him for a decade.[83] In the summer of 1996, Reeves went on tour with Dogstar in Europe,[84] and next appeared in the drama The Last Time I Committed Suicide, based on a 1950 letter written by Neal Cassady to Jack Kerouac. Reeves’s performance gained mixed reviews; Paul Tatara of CNN called him “void of talent […] here he is again, reciting his lines as if they’re non-related words strung together as a memory exercise”,[85] whereas Empire magazine thought “Reeves gives the nearest thing to a performance in his career as the enthusiastic feckless drunk”.[86] He starred in the 1997 supernatural horror The Devil’s Advocate alongside Al Pacino and Charlize Theron; Reeves agreed to a pay cut of several million dollars so that the film studio could afford to hire Pacino.[87] Based on Andrew Neiderman’s novel of the same name, the feature is about a successful young lawyer invited to New York City to work for a major firm, who discovers the owner of the firm is a devil. The Devil’s Advocate attracted positive reviews from critics.[88] Film critic James Berardinelli called the film “highly enjoyable” and wrote, “There are times when Reeves lacks the subtlety that would have made this a more multi-layered portrayal, but it’s nevertheless a solid job”.[89]
Keanu redirects here. For other uses, see Keanu disambiguation.
