Review: You People (2023)

While looking at the new releases this week, I spotted a title on Netflix that I hadn’t seen advertised anywhere. It’s called You People and stars Eddie Murphy, Jonah Hill, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. It’s a romantic comedy revolving around a relationship that has its hurdles due to cultural differences within current American Society.

The Premise

Jonah Hill plays a character named Ezra. He’s a broker that co-hosts a podcast about his passion, African American culture. He comes from a very traditional Jewish family, and his mom keeps pushing for him to find a significant other. He goes on some dates where there clearly is no chemistry. By accident, he gets into a car driven by Amira, assuming she was his Uber driver, which she isn’t. They hit it off and begin dating, but Amira’s father, Akbar doesn’t much care for Ezra due to his belief that the African American culture is breaking down. He believes that Ezra being white will cause his daughter to stray further from her roots, and that their potential future children even more so.

A Cliche Story

As I was watching this, immediately the movie Guess Who? (2005) came to mind, where Ashton Kutcher appears in an interracial relationship, and his girlfriend’s father doesn’t much care for him. It’s the same old, romantic comedy cliche of, “a couple is happy, but things happen to cause a rift in their relationship that ultimately gets resolved.” However, You People is more modern in its approach and takes a few harder stabs at social issues currently affecting our world.

A Decent Watch for Some Laughs

While there may not be a ton of originality around the overall plot and structure, You People does a great job showing an equal balance of problems that can be presented by overbearing parents from different cultures. It also presents the problems that can accompany the idea of comparing cultural traumas. However, in the end it’s all about the power of love, and its ability to overcome even the toughest obstacles. I’m a sucker for watching characters that are too closed off open up their mind and realize their faults.

You People is currently available to stream on Netflix.