The best Keanu is Sad Keanu … and he isn’t so sad

Consider that Keanu’s expression is not sadness. It’s solitude. It’s self assurance

10:06 AM PDT on July 8, 2025

Keanu Reeves and Stephen Colbert talking about the ‘Sad Keanu’ meme in 2021. Photo: The Late Show With Stephen Colbert/CBS/Screenshot

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This month and next, the Roxie Theater is presenting A Keanu Summer featuring five of our dude’s most excellent films. To celebrate this series — and the man at its center — we’re each taking a moment to honor Keanu and his many, many facets.

There he is. Keanu, eating a sandwich alone on a bench. No leather trench coat. No sunglasses. Maybe a little melancholy. Maybe in the midst of existential thought. Maybe wishing he’d asked for mustard. He is deeply, powerfully alone. And honestly? Iconic.

In the great meme nobility, “Sad Keanu” is His Majesty. But look closer… Consider that Keanu’s expression is not sadness. It’s solitude. It’s self assurance. It’s a man — who happens to be a movie star — enjoying a sandwich without performance, without small talk, without having to split an overpriced appetizer he didn’t want. He’s outside in the fresh air. Sigh. He’s got a moment to himself (my favorite indulgence) and he is making the most of it with his own company. He’s doing what so many of us are afraid to do: dine solo, in public, in peace.

As a proud supporter of the “Une table pour un,” let me say this is my dream. It may be Keanu’s dream, too, to judge by him eating an ice cream cone in Alameda, a slice of pizza in New York, or a smoothie in Brooklyn.These aren’t staged paparazzi moments, they are life. They’re what happens when you let yourself fully enjoy a croissant without needing anyone to validate your coffee order or your personality. Dining alone isn’t lonely. It’s a love language for your own damn self and Keanu has mastered it.