You People blends comedy with a cultural clash. Photo / Netflix
You People (M, 117 mins)
Now streaming on Netflix
Directed by Kenya Barris
In the classic movie Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), a Black American is brought home to dinner by his white girlfriend. They’ve had a whirlwind romance and are engaged. Now they’re seeking her parents’ approval to marry. The parents are more or less tolerant, but fear the difficulties ahead for the couple, given society’s attitudes to mixed-race marriage.
You People, also about a mixed-race couple and an awkward dinner, has been brought up to date by writer-director Kenya Barris, who has a Black Muslim father. Barris co-wrote the script with Jonah Hill, who’s white and identifies as Jewish.
Their rom-com gets off to a rollicking start when Ezra (Jonah Hill), a white Jewish man, thinking his Uber has arrived, gets into a parked car that has Black Muslim Amira (Lauren London) in the driver’s seat. Amira becomes hysterical. She’s lost in Century City and late for a job interview. Ezra is a total stranger, a big one, who is terrifying her.
Amira calms down when Ezra tells her he knows Century City and can get to her interview. She lets him help her and soon afterwards, they go on a date. Amira, a fashion designer, smartens Ezra’s wardrobe up. They go on more dates. They laugh a lot. They hook up.
Ezra, already in his 30s, has to extract himself from his overbearing mother Shelley (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) who sets up dates for him with supposedly suitable Jewish girls. His dad Arnold (David Duchovny) is not in the least intrusive, but Shelley carries on blundering in, not only to Ezra’s life, but Amira’s. She tells Amira how lovely her hair and nails are, offending Amira who assertively points out to Shelley she’s not a toy. But Amira’s necessarily compliant with her own parents, Akbar (Eddie Murphy) and Fatima (Nia Long) whose identity as Muslims makes it impossible for them, particularly Akbar, to accept the idea that Amira might marry Ezra. Amira must respect her parents.
The scene inspired by Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is the one where Amira and Ezra’s parents meet over dinner, which becomes excruciatingly embarrassing, particularly for Shelley. Other scenes, too, are excruciating, including Ezra going for a drive with Akbar to get to know him, but misfiring badly.
You People is laugh-out-loud funny, despite all the things that go dreadfully wrong. The script is fast paced and witty, and the characters, particularly Amira, Ezra, Shelley and Akbar are memorable. There’s a hilarious cameo by Mike Epps as bad Uncle EJ. Unsurprisingly, being such lively entertainment, and much more fun than some other recent rom-coms, it’s trending on Netflix.
Comparing the Muslim and Jewish households is interesting: similar middle-class family values, similar awareness of being ethnic minorities, although Akbar is a militant Black American who sees racism in everything, even in Shelley and Arnold. To him, they’re privileged white people who’ve benefited from Black slavery. Ouch.
Do Amira and Ezra get married? You’ll have to see the film to find out.
Highly recommended
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