You People - review

Brief synopsis: A thirty-something Jewish man finds love and a kindred spirit in a black woman from a Muslim family. Their differing backgrounds and culture are a challenge when the families meet.

Is it any good?: You People, the Netflix comedy, is a passably amusing but somewhat overlong rom-com. The race mix and culture clash premise is a little worn, having been executed far better in previous films.

The central pairing works well, their sweet romance believable, allowing the rom-com potion of the film to work well. Unfortunately, the awkward culture clash and hamfisted woke humour pull the story down.

Spoiler(ish) territory: Ezra (Johan Hill), a white Jewish stockbroker wannabe pop-culture commentator, comes from a traditional Jewish family. In his thirties, his community, especially his mother, Shelly (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), push for him to settle down.

After splitting with her boyfriend, Amira (Lauren London) gets lost whilst driving around Los Angeles. Parked outside an office building whilst trying to find her bearings, Ezra mistakes her for an Uber driver. A mortified Amira rages at his presumptuous nature. Ezra explains that it is an honest mistake, showing her a picture of the Uber driver, her doppelganger.

After that initial meeting, Erza is attracted to her. They get together and quickly find that they are highly compatible. Six months pass. it is time to meet each other's families. Ezra's family, mother, father, Arnold (David Duchovny), and lesbian sister, Liza (Molly Gordon), fawn over an overwhelmed Amira.

To meet Amira's parents, Ezra invites them out to lunch. Another awkward encounter ensues, Amira's mother, Fatima (Nia Long) and black-power-embracing father, Akbar (Eddie Murphy), do not show the same enthusiasm when meeting Ezra.

The two decide to get married and the families meet for dinner. The dinner is an uncomfortable disaster. More missteps follow as Shelly takes Amira out for a Spa day and sees racism where there is none.

Meanwhile, Akbar goes out of his way to put Ezra in as many difficult situations as possible, taking him to all-black barbers and a pick-up basketball court. He does little to hide his disdain for Ezra.

Ezra's best friend is his business partner, black lesbian Mo (Sam Jay). She believes, upon hearing all of the trials and tribulations that Ezra is going through, that black and white people cannot mix.

Wedding plans trundle along, the respective parties both having their traditional celebrations. Ezra goes to Vegas for his bachelor party, the androgynous Mo promising a weekend of stress-relieving debauchery, only for the unexpected accompaniment of Akbar to kibosh that plan.

Elsewhere, Amira finds herself on a retreat with both mothers, Liza and a few black girlfriends. Shelly's overzealousness proves too much for the party, with disastrous consequences.

Along with the family troubles, Amira loses out on a potential job due to social nepotism and rifts begin to form in their relationship. They forged ahead with a pre-wedding party. After both once again have uncomfortable encounters with the opposing parents, the relationship falls apart.

They split up and spend the next few months moping around miserably. Shelly and Akbar realise that their offspring are happier together and decide to reunite them. They get married. The end.

Final thoughts: You People is an okay comedic effort written by Jonah Hill and Kenya Barris. Directed by Barris, the film looks good and bumps along at a reasonable pace. Hill and London make a nice central coupling, their chemistry working well. Sam Joy comes across as one of the more organic characters in the film, even if some of the exchanges with Hill - the Drake-heavy early exchange comes to mind - are a little forced.

Louis-Dreyfus and Murphy are both hampered by the caricature-like nature of their characters, the writing of both neither fresh nor insightful. As many reviewers have noted, previous films have tackled the same subject matter with more finesse.

The film leans too much into race and culture politics, overshadowing the comedy and romance. Given the comedic talent on show, the script delivers very little memorable or quotable dialogue.

At just under two hours long, You People is also too long for a rom-com, another reason tempering the race and culture emphasis would have made for a better film. This is especially notable because of the unexpected chemistry between the leads.

Race, religion and culture withstanding, the relationship between Ezra and Amira really works. We want it to work and even though, it ultimately does work out, it is a somewhat unsatisfying and truncated conclusion.

You People may have worked better as a short series, allowing the race, culture and identity politics to be explored more organically, woven in with the humour. The tone is such that one never feels the necessary emotion, just a mild frustration waiting for the peaks that never come.