by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
The romantic comedy genre needs some new life. Thankfully, streaming services have the chance to add more films for people to check out. Streamers have also increased in notoriety by getting more prominent actors for their movies. Netflix has been doing surprisingly well with their romantic comedies lately, and just in time for Valentine’s Day, they released an update to Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and Guess Who.
The idea of doing a romantic comedy about an interracial couple whose families meet is a timely subject in the United States, unfortunately. You People’s greatest strength is confronting issues like microaggressions, tokenism, and giving people a fair chance. The film updates the path Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner paved by adding a modern twist on how two families process what it means to be an interracial family. Two people meet, fall in love, and get engaged. The real trouble comes when their families meet and realize how different they are.
The families of each person couldn’t have been put together any better. Ezra (Jonah Hill) has an outstanding meet-cute with Amira (Lauren London). It is hilarious and sets up how assumptions come into play with issues of race. Amira assumes Ezra is making a racist gesture when they meet, but Ezra immediately tries to that’s not the case. Before they meet, the movie goes to great lengths to show that Ezra is trying to embrace and be more in tune with African-American culture. He hosts a podcast with his friend Mo (Sam Jay) that talks about issues of race. It sounds like a podcast I’d be interested in listening to weekly. Some of the best moments of the movie are Mo and Ezra’s conversations.
As much as I like Hill in this role, I have to give props to London for her performance. She’s outstanding, and Amira is a wonderful character. She isn’t afraid to point out when something doesn’t seem right to her, and she manages to convey how she feels without being overly confrontational. Amira takes a lot of strife between her family, Ezra’s family, and her work as a costume designer.
The real comedy comes from the families of both Ezra and Amira. They couldn’t have picked better parents for each character. Ezra’s parents are Shelly (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Arnold (David Duchovny), who try to bring up issues like the police in conversation, but both are clueless about the issue. They’re trying to relate, when in reality, they will never know what it’s like to be Black in the United States. Shelly, in particular, runs into these issues a lot. She means well but she doesn’t understand the impact she is having on Amira. It’s more cringe-inducing than it is funny because we’ve all seen a situation like this in real life. Luckily, Louis-Dreyfus manages to make the most of her opportunities, even if it made me super uncomfortable. Duchovny gets to flex his comedy muscle, but isn’t in enough of the movie to make an impact. This is a definite missed opportunity.
Amira’s parents are Fatima (Nia Long) and Akbar (Eddie Murphy). Fatima loves her daughter, but is still struggling with the idea that she is with Ezra. Akbar, on the other hand, is outwardly hostile toward Ezra. Murphy is a great choice for the character, but even I felt he is holding back, or is a little subdued. Some of the funniest moments of You People come from Ezra and Akbar. Akbar is constantly testing Ezra and setting him up to fail. It’s also a little cringe-worthy, but it’s not as bad as it was with Amira and Shelly. There is a scene on a basketball court that I loved, but in contrast, the scenes at Ezra’s bachelor party made me feel uneasy.
Amira’s family also introduces another conflict, as they are also Muslim, whereas Ezra’s family is Jewish. This introduces another layer of conflict. You People doesn’t commit enough to talk about the religious conflict between the two families, which makes that part of the plot feel disjointed and incomplete. I’m wondering if more aspects of this were left on the cutting room floor, or if they simply ran out of runway to explore this conflict further.
This is the problem with You People: It’s trying to say a lot about a lot of different topics. It says a lot of things about race that are important to talk about, but it’s at the expense of the topics involving religion and socio-economic status, which isn’t explored as much as it could have. At the same time, You People struggles to balance both the romance and comedy. We sacrifice time with Ezra and Amira and don’t see enough of their relationship. Hill and London have great chemistry, but they just don’t get enough time to show that because Amira spends a lot of time with Shelly, and Ezra with Akbar. This isn’t to say the movie isn’t funny or entertaining. I laughed and would welcome more time with this couple. They have some hard but real conversations with one another about how they can make their relationship work. If they had scaled down the story a little and focus on Amira and Ezra a little more, I would have loved You People. Instead, it’s good with some missed opportunities.
Score: 6/10
You People is currently streaming on Netflix.
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