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I’m a fan of Eddie Murphy. I’m a fan of Jonah Hill. I’m a fan of pairing them together in a comedy. This sounds like it could be comedy gold. Unfortunately, You People is too poorly put together in screenplay and production values to warrant a recommendation. The film by Kenya Barris has its heart in the right place, but none of this is compelling and only sporadically funny stretched over a bloated two hours. Its watchability comes from the personalities of the cast. Barris and Jonah Hill’s screenplay is sorely lacking in insights and jokes. Everything feels more forced and cringy than organic and funny.
Jonah Hill stars as a 35-year-old Jewish podcaster looking for a girlfriend. His parents, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and David Duchovny, try to set him up with a nice girl from the synagogue, but that doesn’t work out too well. By chance, he meets Amira, a black Muslim female who wants a real connection. Sparks strike, although it’s done in a montage, and we never get the sense they would fall for each other, and Ezra proposes marriage. The rest of the film is about Amira vs. Ezra’s family. Eddie Murphy and Nia Long play Amira’s parents as proud Muslims and black people. Naturally, a majority of the humor in the film is religious and racially based.
You People is a film with aspirations of being a modern-day version of Stanley Kramer’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. There are themes of modern love, family dynamics, clashing cultures, religious toleration, and generational differences explored but merely on a surface level. There’s dialogue meant to come across as intelligent and thought-provoking but instead comes off as stale. There’s no pacing and just one awkward scene after another. It’s an absolute slog to get through as well. The performances are ok, and it’s fun to see these actors. They’re just not given much to work with. Even the very funny Mike Epps can’t come in and get some consistent laughs.
Streaming on Netflix.
