Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

A Major Disappointment

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Network: Fox; Genre: Crime/Mystery, Comedy; Content Rating: TV-PG (for some violence); Available: reruns on Sleuth; Perspective: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4); Seasons Reviewed: Complete Series (1 season)Having the unfortunate luck to debut on Fox during the reality series craze/ quality TV massacre that occurred under Gail Berman's watch during the early 00s, can't quite explain "Keen Eddie's" short life. This is one of those shows that wouldn't have made it anyway. It's too original, too different, too quirky, too oddball to ever catch fire with a TV audience. It's something of a minor miracle that "Keen Eddie" snuck past the stick-in-the-mud network and got on the air to begin with.When a drug bust goes horribly wrong under the eye of New York cop Eddie Arlette (Mark Valley, "Boston Legal", though perfectly cast here), he is sent to follow the drugs across the pond, where he takes a detective job at Scotland Yard. Eddie takes up residence in a flat and quickly finds himself at bickering odds with Fiona (Sienna Miller) who hates Eddie and is convinced the flat belongs to her. And get this, they actually don't get together. Eddie has a playboy partner played like the gullible dweeb you wouldn't expect to be the playboy partner in Pippin (Julian Rind-Tutt). In true cop series fashion, Eddie has a tough captain (Colin Salmon, Resident Evil) and his pension for cigars is a quirk like everyone's on the show. "Keen Eddie" is a crime series with an uncommon attention to character.Eddie's London experience is filled with colorful characters from two guys who have divided their pub in half arguing over whether it should be Irish or American or a mob boss who bases the actions of himself and his henchmen on a complete faith in astrology. Then there is the matter of the captain's secretary, whom Eddie calls Miss Moneypenny (a smoking Rachael Buckley) who may or may not be hitting on Eddie in the show's weirdest and funniest running gag. I love the women on the show. Fiona has her own life with her own story lines. Moneypenny is a sex joke that is actually funny. They aren't just around to prop up the guys.The mysteries are clever. Not knock-you-out clever. No big twists. But also, thank God, no "CSI" pretension. Plus, to be perfectly honest here, unlike with any character on the "CSI" and "Law & Order" franchises, I watch "Keen Eddie" and actually get a warm, comforting sense from this character. There is crime in the world, theft, kidnapping, murder, but there is also this hard-boiled dogged cop who acts like a goof and spouts a readily quotable catch phrase who will chase down the bad guys and bring them to justice. And we'd better be glad he's out there. Damn glad. He's Eddie, how do you like him now? There are a few uneven tonal shifts in the show, many times getting too dramatic when it plays best as a wacky screwball ensemble. It feels too long at an hour, often loosing steam in the final act when it should really be going for zany broke. The pilot tries to hard to impress, but if TV has taught me anything it's that a Pilot (if not written by Bryan Fuller) is no sign of future quality. The 2nd to last episode, "Keeping up Appearances" is quite funny. In it, Eddie inherits a Bentley and a live-in driver but the car keeps getting stolen by the same guy. As is common, the show gets better the more it loosens up.It should also be mentioned how overdirected and hyper-stylized "Keen" is. In an effort to look like a Guy Ritchie movie (it did debut pre-Edgar Wright) the show is chopped up with unnecessary fast forwards, flashbacks, quick cuts, top-down tilt shots and just about every other goofy film school trick you can imagine.In one episode Eddie is egged on by the cops at Scotland Yard to get in there with a perp and give him a good old fashioned American interrogation - clearly inspired by Vic Mackey and Jack Bauer. I kind of wish "Keen Eddie" delved a bit into that more: the British perception of Americans by American pop culture. Because the show itself is something of a funhouse mirror of how American view the Brits. What a fun extra layer this had been to an already full series."Keen Eddie" is a fun, likable show with a cast of characters unlike any on American television. Worth a watch if you can find it.* * ½ / 4

Absolutely one of the best written, smartest, funniest, most visually stimulating TV shows ever written. The camera work is great. The music is excellent. The laughs are constant. Yes, you do need a brain to follow the fast moving plots. The actors and acting is right on the money. You can't help but love the characters - both good and bad. The dog - is he great or what? Moneypenny, The Sticky Wicket, The Chemist -priceless. Mark Valley deserves more air time than he gets on Boston Legal. Where is Julian?! If you want intelligent laughs, Keen Eddie is for you. No wonder it didn't last. It's a treasure - not the usual TV garbage.

Keen Eddie is the story of a NY detective working for the English police in London. Mercifully it doesn't hammer away at that weary old trope of 'You say taps, we say faucets'; cultural misunderstanding are kept to a minimum. It's interesting to see London caricatures represented for an American audience and again the production showed some restraint. I don't think that the English have ever got over Dick Van Dyke's performance as Bert the Cokernee chimney sweep in Mary Poppins.The principle cast were fine but story lines were highly truncated with little connective tissue between scenes. Nevermind, it's TV isn't it. Visually it owes something to Lock,Stock & 2SB's and Snatch and I found it more entertaining than either.It's a shame that a second series was dropped. The show had charm; quirky camera work, recurring characters, loads of good gags and a non American location. Perhaps an American audience didn't take to all the English accents. Unsurprising as shows shot in US cities have to undergo audience testing to see how it will go down east coast - mid-west or east coast.This show had loads of potential. I'm sad that I only have the one series on DVD.

I'm glad this show wasn't a waste and that other's enjoyed it, but honestly, I didn't care for it. I tried to enjoy it as a comedy, satire, mystery, even as a second-rate show to make fun of, but it didn't capture my interest. It just got more irritating.I got through about 40 minutes of the pilot and had to turn it off. Usually I give shows/movies more time before judging it. After watching for 20 minutes, I wanted to turn the show off but didn't to see if it got any better; so watching it for 40 minutes was a stretch.The lead character had little charisma and made stupid decisions (but not in a clever way). The plot was predictable. I found the culture clash to be offensive and not funny. The lead character's animosity towards his dog was annoying.Sorry, I wanted to like it but it didn't do it for me. I don't think the show "went over my head." I got the jokes, It just didn't make me laugh. Eddie's cockiness and stupidity just wore on my nerves after awhile.