Netflix’s new comedy “You People” has all the right ingredients for a great movie poster. The main cast exhibits a laundry list of Hollywood comedy icons — Eddie Murphy, Jonah Hill and Julia Louis-Dreyfus — as well as other Hollywood A-listers such as Nia Long, David Duchovny and Lauren London. With a contemporary, LA-centered atmosphere and frequent nods at hip-hop culture and street fashion couture, the film had great potential to be a fresh, standout comedy for the Netflix catalog.
However, the film produced the opposite result — an underwhelming, uneasy watch that falls short of its funny, lighthearted intention by means of off-putting jokes backed by harmful stereotypes.
The story begins with Ezra (Hill), a Jewish broker who serendipitously meets Amira (London) after he mistakenly hops in the back seat of her Mini Cooper, assuming she is his rideshare driver. The two hit it off, and after just a few months of dating, they already make plans to get married. Everything seems to be going great until they realize their biggest obstacle — their overbearing parents who struggle to grapple with their extreme cultural differences, one family as white and Jewish and the other as Black and Muslim.
Amira’s father, Akbar (Murphy), plays the stern, pessimistic dad who makes it his sole mission to destroy any hope of his daughter tying the knot with Ezra — someone not Black and not Muslim. Unlike any of Murphy’s past charismatic, loudmouth roles, Akbar never ceases to force tense situations and uncomfortable questions onto his son-in-law to be, evidently displeased with their pronounced differences.
Ezra’s mother, Shelley (Louis-Dreyfus), proves to be equally problematic. Since her first encounter with Amira, she acts so effusive in her excessive embrace of her future daughter-in-law that her comments come off as grossly offensive. Treating Amira as the token Black girl entering the family, Shelley remains excruciatingly oblivious to her racist, objectifying remarks to the point that it’s almost painful to watch the two interact.
As the film progresses, each set of parents begin to express heated political debate towards each other, even going as far as arguing whether Jewish or Black people have suffered more. The film is bombarded with long, rambling scenes of unwavering racial tension between the parents, leaving the audience highly uncomfortable in moments where it seems like the filmmakers wanted a laugh. Every attempt to make a joke that elaborates on their racial and religious differences lands wrong, and it’s clear that their intention of witty, playful dialogue is poorly delivered. You can almost hear the crickets chirping after any one of the film’s countless racial teases that ride on long-standing stereotypes.
The dramatization of the culture clash between their families also leads to the characters being portrayed and reduced to their basic archetypes. Namely, Shelley comes across as so ignorant and insensitive when interacting with Amira’s family that she seems to be representing a caricature of a problematic white person. Akbar’s unfaltering cynicism towards Ezra comes off as being untrusting or skeptical towards anything that doesn’t align with his background. Their strong personalities sometimes feel too unnaturally extreme to be believable, making the story feel far too formulaic and almost trivializing the real issues they try to address.
“You People” had the right idea. It’s important to expose and incite discussion on the state of systemic racism and prejudice that endures in this country. But in a rom-com context, the message doesn’t come across with the same effect. The heavy issues that center this film are presented in an oddly exaggerated, overkill manner while still trying to make it humorous and charming. I wouldn’t say it’s not worth a watch, but I would have approached such sensitive topics in a more composed way.
