“Black-ish” writer Kenya Barris directs “You People,” (co-written by Jonah Hill), which stars Hill and Lauren London as an engaged couple whose Jewish and Muslim-African-American parents can’t get over their differences and self-centeredly throw a monkey-wrench into the love between their children. It’s reminiscent of some the humorous cultural racial squabbling that used to go on in Woody Allen movies.
Meet Cute
Ezra, thinking he’s catching an Uber, gets in the back of the pulled-over car Amira’s driving (she’s checking directions). After a brief squabble, the two find themselves unexpectedly connecting over a shared love of shoes and music.Ezra dreams of one day quitting his mind-numbing finance job and going full time with his passion, co-hosting his podcast about, of all things, black culture, with his black lesbian partner Mo (Sam Jay). Howard University grad Amira is a set designer.
They fall in love, plan to marry, and then their relationship is severely put to the test by Amira’s disapproving parents (Eddie Murphy, Nia Long) and Ezra’s semi-woke, progressive parents (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Duchovny) who, between the four of them, throw every permutation and combination of every Muslim-Jewish politically incorrect faux pas and cringe-worthy uttering into the air like a deck of cards. And it’s definitely cringe-worthy. And quite funny.
For example, Ezra tells Amira a story about the engagement ring he gives her, to explain its size, saying it was his grandmother’s from the Holocaust (he’s coached on this by partner Mo). Amira, with raised eyebrow, wonders about the timeline involved, which leads Ezra to joke that his grandmother was engaged when she was “three or four years old. ... It was a different time.”
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
The parents eventually meet for a communal dinner; silly culture clash things go on. Akbar (Murphy) proudly shows off the kufi gifted to him by Louis Farrakhan, whom Ezra’s mom (Julia Louis Dreyfus) hates, and who manages to fumble around and light said kufi on fire with a candle. It’s a mistake. But still. The seething! The eye-rolling! And Ezra’s running around with his eyes bugging out in horror, trying to put out the foot-in-mouth brush fires springing up everywhere, but only managing to sprinkle verbal gasoline on them.
For example, Ezra describes his podcast as being about “The Culture,” to which Akbar replies, “‘The Culture? Really? You’re just gonna take the word ‘Black’ out of there?”
Later, Akbar, attempts to “bond” with Ezra, which is a thinly veiled attempt to sabotage Ezra’s reputation: from taking a clueless, red-hoodie-wearing Ezra to a barbershop run by Crip gang members (who favor blue), to forcing Ezra to explain why he loves a Kanye West song about Paris featuring the N-word, to setting up a street basketball game for Ezra to demonstrate that he’s got game. During the latter, Akbar’s in for a fun surprise.
Scanty
All rom-coms have the couple in question having a spat as a lead-up to the big reconciliation scene. This one’s triggered by Amira noticing Ezra’s sneakers left under her bed. That’s fairly lame, but okay.In general, “You People” should be a bigger deal. Movies today are so underpromoted due to their new homes on TV, that a movie starring Eddie Murphy, Jonah Hill, and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss ends up having an extremely low profile. And by association, the movies suffer from the perception that they’re perhaps not particularly worthwhile. The Rotten Tomatoes score is a rather shocking 42-percent – 38-percent.
Netflix’s ad copy describes “You People” as “an edgy comedy,” and while “You People” is fairly polite considering its subject matter, Kenya Barris and Jonah Hill have found a way to address a large swath of America’s racial and cultural minefield in a manner that will make you laugh out loud, yet make you stop and think for a second. That’s good stuff.
