You People review by Bobby Blakey
I have loved Jonah Hill since the first time I saw him in 40 Year Old Virgin. Since then he has not only had a stellar career, but grown into an impressive filmmaker as well as both a comedic and serious actor. His latest film, You People that he co-wrote along-side director Kenya Barris, has him teaming up with comedy icon Eddie Murphy making it already a must see. Add to this a great supporting cast including Lauren London, David Duchovny, Nia Long, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sam Jay, Travis Bennett, Rhea Perlman, Deon Cole, and Mike Epps could it be something special that brings up together or will it fail to understand the culture?
You People follows a new couple and their families, who find themselves examining modern love and family dynamics amidst clashing cultures, societal expectations and generational differences. The film appears to be an unofficial remake of “Guess Who Is Coming to Dinner”, but clearly doing its own take on it with the more recent struggles and visions of the cultures and society of today.
Going in I obviously had some high hopes with the talent involved, but wasn’t really sure to how far into the comedy aspect they were going to be going. To my surprise while there were plenty of laughs to be had it was a bit more reigned in than I expected. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as it is trying to let the story of these different cultures work through the good, bad, misunderstood and over the top nature of itself.
Hill is great as always bringing the straight man approach to someone walking the line between doing his own thing and being himself to wanting to understand something bigger while finding happiness. His podcasting scenes alongside Sam Jay are excellent bringing some fun pop culture into the important discussions letting you believe in the depth of their friendship. The same is said for the chemistry between Hill and London who just connect well.
Murphy brings a different kind of tone with this performance as a Muslim straight laced no nonsense father to London’s Amira. From the moment he steps on screen you know he means business. Through it all Murphy is still as cool as ever in everything he does. Gone here is the over the top loud expressions and iconic laugh that he no longer does and in its place something a bit scarier yet fun to watch. I loved him here and seeing the back and forth between he and Hill is fantastic.
On the other side of that spectrum is the duo of Dreyfus and Duchovny. They are perfect together bringing some of the cringe worthy moments as they try way too hard to connect to black culture or fight for their Jewish beliefs. These two dynamics open up many interesting conversations about the state of the world today and the plights of both the Jewish and Black people. It sounds like it could be pretty heavy and it has its moments, but it’s still a fun by the numbers romantic comedy in the end.
This film will rub some people the wrong way with the discussions of politics and race, but I think it shined a light on both sides of the issue well and will get you talking which is what a good film should do. You can also just let it be its thing and enjoy the insanity of it all and have a good time.
Decide for yourself and check out You People streaming now exclusively on Netflix.