You People Review: Guess Who... Again

Netflix’s newest romantic comedy You People from Black-ish creator, Kenya Barris, is a modern combination of Meet the Parents meets Guess Who. The movie follows the interracial relationship of two adults from two different backgrounds, as they try their best to navigate through family clashes, societal expectations, and generational differences. Yet it is not an easy course when one has an overbearing dad and the other has an overbearing mother.

We are introduced to Ezra Cohen (Jonah Hill), a Jewish man who works in finance but wants to pursue a lifelong career as a podcaster with Mo (Sam Jay), his African-American friend, where they talk about the African-American culture and issues. When he joins his parents Shelley (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) and Arnold (David Duchovny), and his sister Liza (Molly Gordon), at their synagogue on Yom Kippur, he is badgered with inappropriate questions from his family and congregation about dating, marriage, and sex. His mother even coerces him into a date with someone at their synagogue, and the date doesn’t go successfully well because he feels there was no connection. Ezra vents to Mo how he wants to really connect with someone who shares the same interests and really understands him. Then we meet Amira Mohammed (Lauren London), an aspiring costume designer, tying up loose ends with an ex-boyfriend for good. While driving around lost due to her navigation system she ends up in front of Ezra’s firm, as he’s waiting for his uber driver. She freaks out as he mistakenly thought she was his ride, and from the funny situation they agree to a date after he assists getting her to her designated location.

Once we meet Amira’s brother, Omar (Travis Bennett) and their dad, Akbar (Eddie Murphy), she shares that she has a date. Although she only discloses to her brother that Ezra is white, her father expresses his opinions about gentrification and the importance of being a Muslim. Ezra and Amira hit it off on their date which is a success, and we see a montage of a genuine connection blossoming between the two, and 6 months later they move in together and she meets his parents for the first time.

The meeting stage was definitely a cringe-fest from Shelley bringing up BLM topics to Arnold commenting on Amira’s braided hairstyle sharing similarities to Xzhibit, a rapper he loves. The approach of how they tried to connect with Amira and get to know her was very uncomfortable. We learn Ezra wants to propose to Amira, but he hasn’t met her family yet and his mother suggests he meets them first before moving forward. Ezra, Akbar, and Amira’s mother, Fatima (Nia Long), meet at Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles, assuming they would feel at home there, and it was yet another awkward encounter. After Amira learns of their meeting, he slips about proposing and she still happily accepts. Once the parents finally meet and the wedding planning begins, the clashing starts. As both Ezra and Amira are middle-men trying to keep the peace between their families, they also try their best to keep cool from feeling uncomfortable around the other’s parents.

You People examines the overview of cultures clashing and important topics we continue to see and experience to this day. With co-writers Kenya Barris and Jonah Hill delivering comedic efforts throughout the film, some were priceless and some were too cringey for me. Some areas that lacked were character developments and our main couple not having more chemistry and affection, due to the vibe feeling too homey. Overall I did enjoy watching the mix of this star-studded cast, and did appreciate the efforts of making a situation like this relatable and not too unrealistic for viewers. It was also fun seeing other familiar faces in this movie including La La Anthony, Yung Miami, Khadijah Haqq, Mike Epps, Rhea Perlman, and Anthony Anderson.

You People is now streaming on Netflix. Rated R for drug content, some sexual material, and language throughout with a runtime of 118 minutes.