Director: Kenya Barris
Starring: Jonah Hill, Lauren London, Julie Louis-Dreyfus, Eddie Murphy
Year: 2023
Despite all the reasons it shouldn’t be good, You People is not only awesome, not only great, but one of the best rom-coms I have ever seen. It’s a Netflix movie about an interracial couple who have trouble with their in-laws; that really ought to be the stupidest, most cliche, least watchable film of the year, and instead it’s a bright point in a genre that has very few of those. You People will make you laugh and make you smile, and if that was it’s point then hey, job well done.
Ezra Cohen is a Jew from L.A. who hates his broker job, just wants to do culture podcasts with his best friend, and sucks at finding love. Amira is a Black Muslim who doesn’t consider herself religious, can’t find a guy she likes, and just want to make it in Hollywood. After randomly bumping into each other, the pair form a healthy relationship, except for one small problem; their families. Ezra’s mom is TOO excited about having a Black person in the family, and Amira’s dad has already decided that this white boy sucks. Love will keep them together, but will it be enough to take them all the way down the aisle?
Again, on the surface this is crap. A rom-com, a cross-cultural snafu, love in the face of family, parents who don’t get along, high jinks galore; I get it, I hardly believe it either. But You People works, it just works, and probably mostly because Jonah Hill is great and because he & Barris (they wrote the movie together) weren’t afraid to be honest and adult and natural and real. This is a rom-com to compare others to, not to compare Oscar dramas to, and on that level it more-than succeeds. Louis-Dreyfus & Murphy are great as the parents, I laughed out loud a LOT, and, for a couple hours on Netflix, you could do so much worse.
My rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆