Netflix’s star-studded rom-com You People is aesthetically pleasing and occasionally funny, however a wee bit cringy, writes Laumata Volavola.
You People
Director Kenya Barris (black-ish) has brought together comedy GOATs (greatest of all time) like Eddie Murphy and Julia Louis-Dreyfus and put Jonah Hill (also a co-writer and producer), in his first rom-com lead opposite Lauren London. The setup? A Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?/Meet the Fockers situation.
Hill plays Ezra Cohen, the Jewish co-host of a podcast with a Black friend named Mo (Sam Jay) about ‘the culture’, which is really just the two of them talking about their differences and lives while appreciating hip-hop/Black culture. From the start there are some laugh out loud moments between Ezra and his family as well as members of his synagogue, however there’s an overpowering sense of loneliness that shows through because there’s “just no one that gets him” despite multiple setups and dates with Jewish girls.
Cue the meet-cute! When he accidentally gets into the wrong car, thinking it’s his Uber, Ezra meets strong Black woman Amira Mohammed (Lauren London) and the two start dating. Cut to six months later, Ezra has decided to marry Amira and so sets up a meeting at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles, of all places, to try to get permission from her parents Akbar (Eddie Murphy) and Fatima (Nia Long).
On the one hand, Hill’s Ezra is the same character Hill plays in every movie just this time he’s less annoying and a bit more fleshed out as a character. On the other, he’s overshadowed by Murphy’s Akbar and Louis-Dreyfus who plays his mother Shelley—whose scenes together garner some of the funnier, albeit somewhat uncomfortable moments. There’s a scene where words comparing the Holocaust to Slavery are uttered, need I say more?
As for the leading couple, while I do like their moments together, I don’t know if I’m feeling the chemistry between Hill and London. Is it because Amira’s way out of Ezra’s league or is it London being out of Hill’s? In any case I’m not a fan of how Ezra’s every emotion and thought process is developed on screen, while Amira is given very little agency, lines or emotions other than frustration and justified anger at white people white people-ing at her.
This is made even more striking when a bit between Ezra’s obnoxious white friends going on about Ezra’s love of cocaine during a boys’ weekend goes on way too long—seemingly longer than the genuine confrontation between Amira and Shelley over Shelley’s treatment of Amira like “a shiny, new Black barbie to dress up”. Personally, London deserved a more three-dimensional character, even though she made Amira her own there wasn’t much she could do with what she was given to work with.
The core of You People is about two people from two different backgrounds falling in love and wanting to get married but also wanting their parents’ approval. However, the film also tries to say a lot and do a lot, from race relations and interracial relationships to interfaith relationships, and unfortunately it doesn’t quite hit the mark. Although I did appreciate Mike Epps’ appearance.
