You People

It is one tiny rewrite away from a broad “Naked Gun”-esque parody of comedies that traffic in racial stereotypes and differences. Honestly, most of those ...

The tragic thing about “You People” is that it’s a good idea with a great cast. Late in the film, Amira claims that Shelley sees her like a new toy, and I wish the film had the guts to explore that idea more—how people like Shelley can be fascinated by Black culture but not in a way that ever seeks to understand it. Hill and Barris are constantly throwing in these interesting ideas and skipping away from them to the easy, unfunny joke. Admittedly, the angle here is interesting regarding social commentary in that Shelley plays one of those women who sees Black culture in purely superficial terms. Cut to six months later, when Ezra has decided to marry Amira and so steels himself to ask permission from her parents Akbar ( [Eddie Murphy](/cast-and-crew/eddie-murphy)) and Fatima ( [Nia Long](/cast-and-crew/nia-long)). It’s as if they never listened to any podcasts with racial themes, overwriting the scenes with awkward dialogue that sounds so scripted (when the whole idea is that these podcasts are casual, off-the-cuff conversations).

"You People" relies on cringe-inducing moments as the crux of its comedy, as a Jewish guy and a Black Muslim woman (neither of them particularly observant) ...

Ultimately, though, the performances feel mostly squandered as “You People” yields less than the sum of its parts, not helped by unconvincing plot conveniences down the stretch. Virginia” decision](https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/03/us/interracial-marriage-blake-cec/index.html) and the release of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” – or settle for broad sitcom-style gags. That tension was also evident in Barris’ previous series for Netflix, [“#blackAF,”](https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/16/entertainment/blackaf-review/index.html) in which he also starred. There are also pointed observations about race relations even among those who want to be viewed as progressive, such as Shelley treating her future daughter-in-law like a fashionable accessory to be shown off. Yet the story unfolds in fits and starts, jumping forward to get to the most fertile comedic territory while montage-ing its way through the central relationship after its meet-cute origins. A topnotch cast – down to the tiny cameos – can’t fully redeem material that gets lost somewhere between satire and sitcom as assembled by star Jonah Hill and director Kenya Barris.

Even with an indecisive vision, comedy royalty (Jonah Hill! Eddie Murphy! Julia Louis-Dreyfus!) eke out a laugh or two in Kenya Barris's film.

And even with all of the timely jokes about vaccines and Kanye West, the film only manages to rehash old arguments and then throw them away for a sense of family it hasn’t earned — a shoehorned solution that makes the film feel less like a modern take and more like the same old race movie with a new pair of Air Jordans. [Eddie Murphy](https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/eddie-murphy-speaks-the-rolling-stone-interview-111885/) lands plenty of lines that soften the antagonistic aspects of his character, and [Julia Louis-Dreyfus](https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/julia-louis-dreyfus-on-post-election-veep-and-why-we-still-love-elaine-benes-194422/) practically steals the entire damn thing as Ezra’s well-intentioned and overbearing Jewish mother Shelley Cohen. Any chemistry the two have in scenes, and there is some chemistry, often wanes under the collective incompatibility of their families. When Ezra accidentally mistakes Amira Mohammed’s ( [Lauren London](https://www.rollingstone.com/t/lauren-london/)) car for his ride share, the two set upon a whirlwind romance full of differences that threaten to tear their relationship apart. The central meet-cute is playful and awkward in a way that veers closer to endearing than cringe-worthy. [You People](https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/netlfix-kenya-barris-you-people-trailer-1234641450/), the feature directorial debut of [Kenya Barris](https://www.rollingstone.com/t/kenya-barris/) (black-ish), is the next great romantic comedy.

Even with a fantastic comedic cast, You People feels more like a series of sketches than an actual film.

But instead, You People is a missed opportunity, a half-assed reinterpretation that is only sporadically funny, and without the heart or the substance that this story would need for it to truly work. At times, it really feels like You People is just Barris throwing out all the scenarios one should expect in this type of film, never quite worrying about how long or how short of a time he spends in these moments, but instead, just focusing on spending any time in them. As it stands, You People is like an amalgamation of sketches with unusual timing, thrown together in an attempt to have some semblance of a coherent narrative. Yet You People lacks any of the insight or cleverness that made black-ish such a gem, instead feeling like a stitched-together collection of scenarios without much in the way of heart or humor. This begins the awkward clashing of worlds between the Cohen and Mohammed family, as Akbar doesn’t think Ezra is good enough for his daughter, while Ezra’s parents Shelley (Louis-Dreyfus) and Arnold (Duchovny) don’t know how to act now that their family is about to become more diverse. For eight seasons, Barris’s show was able to tackle difficult topics like police brutality, the 2016 presidential election, and racism within the span of a little over twenty minutes delicately and with insight.

From Black-ish creator Kenya Barris, Netflix's Eddie Murphy/Jonah Hill team-up is a dispiriting and dull use of tremendous comedic talent that includes Veep ...

All of this is a shame, because even if the movie is barely directed, it is stacked with comedic legends, some of whom can actually get good laughs out of Hill’s signature mumblecore bullshitting. In this mode, You People comes across as both insincere as a whole, and disingenuous when it comes to Ezra’s character. It’s fun when the actor is a supporting character, less so when he’s one of the protagonists. There can be catharsis in making fun of this in conversation or art, and it can even be a channel for growth and moving past said difficulties — which is where the appeal of a movie like Regardless of how well-meaning a person can be, any challenge to their baseline assumptions about life and the world is going to be uncomfortable and disorienting, and missteps will be made. In a beat that feels fairly true to life, neither of them fully anticipates how weird their respective families will be about their relationship.

(JTA) – The new Netflix comedy “You People,” about an uneasy union between a Jewish man and a Black woman in Los Angeles, was always aiming to provoke its ...

[Louis Farrakhan](https://www.jta.org/2018/03/02/united-states/louis-farrakhan-anti-semite-still-relevant), whose antisemitism gets a small acknowledgement, although the wedding at the end of the film is jointly officiated by a cantor and an imam meant to represent the Nation of Islam. As a Jew himself, he said it was also important to him that the film’s depiction of Judaism be “authentic.” “It was important, I think, for us to have that song remain, so that it portrayed the divide that they would have to cross,” Misher said. Detailed discussions of antisemitism, the filmmakers believed, would have distracted from that. But Misher told JTA that he thought the film did an admirable job of portraying a specific “culturally Jewish” Los Angeles family. There are other racially charged moments in the film that may sit uneasily with Jewish viewers. [popular song that includes the N-word in its title](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubRUS8GupLU) at two different intervals — first as a joke about Hill’s character being unable to say the title, then at the end under a hora — takes on a heightened meaning today. Jewish museum.) He also hired an on-set Jewish cultural consultant from Hebrew Helpers, a nationwide Jewish studies tutoring service. (The film’s premiere on Netflix on Friday coincides with International Holocaust Remembrance Day.) [prominent Black celebrities](https://www.jta.org/tag/kyrie-irving) who have dabbled in antisemitism. And when they don’t understand each other, they understand that there are, in fact, differences.” “It wasn’t about the artist of the song, it was about the words in the song.”

The Gist: Ezra Cohen (Hill) is a financial broker with a podcast, but don't worry, you'll soon like him in spite of that. He describes himself as a ...

I could play apologist and assert that Hill and Barris employ purposeful exaggeration in an attempt to soften the movie’s edges with comedy and land on a love-conquers-all message. It’s funny for a moment, and we cringe, and then it gets ridiculous, and we want it to stop. Ha ha: “Are you trying to compare the Holocaust to slavery” is a line of dialogue from this scene, during which Ezra and Amira look across the table at each other with exasperation. It feels lazy, dithering about on mushy medium ground, raising nigh-impossible issues but resolving them in such a simplistic manner. Performance Worth Watching: Murphy is transfixing and subtly hilarious as an ice-cold Concerned Dad who also has all his blades sharpened so he can slash apart any inference of White privilege. Did you notice that she’s Black and he’s White and the world around them is in turmoil but none of that matters when you’re innnnnnnnn lllllooooovvve. [Jonah Hill](https://decider.com/tag/jonah-hill) co-writes, produces and stars in You People (now on Netflix) a very 2023 rom-com tackling thorny racial and cultural issues within the context of a classic families-feud-while-planning-the-wedding formula. Will this strife only strengthen the resolve of our couple, or will the situation prove to be untenable? There’s another bit where each family brings its own wedding planner to the scene and it becomes clear that this is war. The Cohen and Mohammad families gather for a – sigh – dinner party that won’t at all be apocalyptically awkward and conclude with something bursting into flames, right? An utterly adorbs cute-dates montage follows and they buy the same sneakers and wear the same sneakers at the same time and it’s love love love. You know what has to happen six months later.

“To be able to discover this character across from somebody as talented as Jonah Hill was the dream come true,” Jay tells Complex. “I'm a big Jonah Hill fan, a ...

I’m in this place in life where I’m just super open to what’s next, and excited about the limitlessness of the possibilities. You said you don’t want to be boxed in as just a comedian and you brought up Marvel. I hate to say that in such a cliché way, but it’s the job of any artist to comment on what’s going on in society and bring a microscope to some of what is happening. Sometimes things happen in this business and you can’t really believe they’re happening to you and you’re just like, “Is this for real?” You got to take the little kid in you down a notch when you walk into the space. “The more I learn and grow, the more I’m like, ‘I’m an artist and I like to create things and I just want to be able to create things for as long as possible.’” Do you think it’s important for a comedy to cover these sorts of topics and conversations? But I also am a woman and I have a nurturing side of me that just is natural. Yeah, I think I am that to a lot of my homeboys. I read this stuff and I was like, “This stuff feels solid.” Especially the relationship between Mo and Ezra. But Barris was right, Jay is a pleasant addition to the story and more than holds her own in the film among the greats. Working in television is much different than making a film, especially for someone like the comedian who is used to being involved in behind-the-scenes processes like writing and producing. “I’m a big Jonah Hill fan, a real fan, so I definitely was fangirling a little bit during the breaks.

The new film from Black-ish creator Kenya Barris & comedy star Jonah Hill, You People, is now streaming, but should you give it a watch?

As for me, I thought the film had some standout scenes & performances, but ultimately felt too familiar to stand out amongst its influences and Barris’ previous projects. Playing the overbearing & inflexible father is the perfectly casted Eddie Murphy, who takes his temperament & stubbornness from 1967’s Spencer Tracy but put into many of the similar situations of Bernie Mac’s comedic approach. His comedy style breaks up the stitched-together philosophical text that persists throughout. The film is exactly what we have been accustomed to with Barris’ work. Shoot a dart at a Kenya Barris project, and you will probably land on the same key elements every time. Maybe because he co-wrote the film, but it seemed like the film’s humor is largely derived from Hill’s performance.

The director, co-writer, and co-producer's culture clash romantic comedy is also a love letter to LA.

It shows the hood, it shows Brentwood, and it shows Hollywood, and so on. I learned so much, and that was such an opportunity, but it took me a month and a half, maybe two months, to get away from directing and then think about it again because directing is all-consuming. I understand why the comparisons to Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and Meet the Parents, but it's a wedding movie. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner did not come to my mind until people said it, and I was like, 'Oh, I get it.' The rules are so reversed. Barris: Jonah and I wanted to do a love letter to LA. I got to see 1,200 people at the premiere, and it played like I wanted to play. I felt well prepared for that part of it because of the years of production, and it helped me not get treated like a first-time director. When you go into it with the idea that you're making a theatrical movie, and it's not that, it affects how you approach it. If I were to make another streaming movie, I would go into it with the notion that I was making this for streaming. The part I wasn't prepared for was that with movies, a lot of it is about talent management. I think moving forward, that would be something I would want to lean in on, those relationships and things that I've made in the past years, to make people feel comfortable that you're going to try to take care of them and do your best. Kenya Barris: I've been asked to do one a bunch of times, but I knew whatever it was that I directed, I definitely wanted to write.

Here are the new movie and TV releases you should be watching this weekend. From Netflix's 'You People,' to 'Poker Face,' 'Shotgun Wedding,' and more.

(I wish I had that kind of talent!) Every episode will introduce a strange crime that Charlie will use her skill to solve, and will feature a wide range of some pretty incredible guest stars. In his feature film directorial debut, Kenya Barris aimed to deliver a rom-com that was different from the rest by adding a level of tension and cultural differences that many of us experience in our love lives. [Poker Face](https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/poker-face-season-1-peacock-review/) hit Peacock this week on the TV side, while Netflix’s You People and Prime’s Shotgun Wedding are kicking off the month of love with fresh rom-coms ahead of Valentine’s Day. [ this year’s Oscar nominees ](https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/karla-rodriguez/oscar-nominations-2023-biggest-takeaways)and while there were some disappointments, there were also deep moments of excitement at the possibility that things might be progressing slightly in the awards world. In honor of Everything Everywhere All At Once receiving 11 nominations, the most of any other film this year, the A24 project will be making a [return to theaters](https://collider.com/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-returning-theaters/) this weekend. A rideshare mix-up in Los Angeles is the perfect meet-cute for Ezra Cohen (Jonah Hill) and Amira Mohammed (Lauren London) in Netflix’s You People.

'Black-ish' creator Kenya Barris opens up about his Netflix rom-com 'You People' and why he wanted to make a 'love letter' to L.A. culture.

They were enjoying each other, and they were bonding, but I needed to get to the scene, and no one was really listening to me. I think the difference between TV actors and people doing a movie is that TV actors are, like, going to the rock quarry. I also love that we got to put this movie out at a time when it's so prescient in the conversation right now. I was like, "This is not supposed to happen." They want to know how big their trailer's going to be, and they want to do this or they want to do that. It's a really interesting geographic setup for the city, and those are the things I think we wanted to show. I was like, "Hold on, what?" So from there, we started getting into our love of L.A., and we decided we really wanted to write a love letter to the culture. He was in a relationship with someone from another culture, and we had a conversation about how, in that situation, it's not usually the [couple] that are the problem. That was something that felt really specific to L.A. But we started really talking because I was such a huge admirer of Mid90s. I was a huge fan of his for forever.

You People movie review: Unfolding like a rat-a-tat version of Netflix's own Master of None, the new comedy from Kenya Barris and Jonah Hill is largely ...

But despite the younger generation’s attempts to build bridges and allow love to conquer all, the cultural and racial baggage between the two communities, the movie suggests, makes it almost impossible for two people from radically different backgrounds to sustain a relationship in modern-day America. She accuses him of racism, given his inability to tell her apart from the Black driver on his Uber app, but this hits a nerve. Akbar, for instance, can’t shut up about his grandmother who used to pick cotton, and Ezra’s dad, played by He’s instantly wary of Ezra, who appears to be in active rebellion against his Jewish heritage; Hill has retained his bleach-blonde hair and tattoos. Ezra tries to tell Amira that both she and her car match the description of his ride on the app, but she’s having none of it. Together with Hill, he’s crafted a screenplay that, for at least 45 minutes, brings back memories of Judd Apatow’s heyday in all the best ways.

Kenya Barris' Netflix comedy film "You People" revolves around the struggles of an interracial couple. It is essentially a two-hour-long commentary on ...

While they had gone their separate ways owing to the differences between their families, it was their families who realized that their kids did not make a mistake by choosing one another; it was they who never tried to understand Ezra and Amira’s relationship with an open mind. They apologized for their behavior and for being a disappointment to their children. While the couple seemed to lack agency, considering how they were easily manipulated by their families, the film ends on a hopeful note for their future. Ezra expressed his disappointment when Amira asked him the reason why he decided to meet her parents out of the blue. While he hoped he would film a humiliating video of Ezra failing at the sport, instead, Ezra proved him wrong and excelled at it. Ezra went on a drive with Akbar, and he intentionally took him to a Black salon to show how they would never fit together. Amira was quite taken when she realized that Ezra wanted her parents’ approval before proposing to her. He was not the Black Muslim man Akbar had dreamed his daughter would bring home, and he found it difficult to accept her decision. Before proposing to Amira, Ezra wanted the approval of her parents. Akbar was repulsed by the idea of the man Amira wanted to be with. During their conversation, Ezra mentioned how he wanted to propose to Amira for marriage. Ezra introduced Amira to his parents, and it did not go as smoothly as he would have preferred.