You People has been one of the most anticipated romantic comedies of 2023 and now that it is finally here, everyone is talking about it, and we’re here to do just that. When You People and its cast were first announced, everyone was thrilled about it because a romantic comedy with Jonah Hill and Eddie Murphy, and people weren’t sure if they were ready for this duo on screen. Netflix has definitely done a great job with You People, but of course, we will discuss it more in detail as this review progresses, and by the end of it, you will either want to watch You People or if you have already watched it, you will want to rewatch it.
Before we dive into a review of whether You People is worth all the hype and the run time which is longer than most romantic comedies on Netflix, let’s brief you a little about what this movie was about. You People is a romantic comedy about two people who fall in love, and while it should be simple, it really isn’t. Ezra is a white Jewish man, and Amira is a black Muslim woman, two people whose lives and families couldn’t be more different. You People navigates these differences in a comedic way while also challenging some of the cultural norms. This review of You People will not be spoiler free, so tread lightly as you read it.
Boy meets girl … meets family drama.
— Netflix (@netflix) January 27, 2023
You People — starring Jonah Hill, Eddie Murphy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lauren London, David Duchovny, and Nia Long — is now on Netflix! pic.twitter.com/d6eP0NvJ0J
You People: The Perfect Romantic Comedy or Mediocrely Delightful Comedy
You People hasn’t been out for long, but there have been some mixed reviews about this movie, and we can understand why. You People was the kind of movie that tried to fit everything in all at once, and for most of the part it succeeded, but at some points, we missed what we wanted to see more of Amira and Ezra. The two of them had a turbulent meet-cute and the rest of their relationship until they became official was simply a montage sequence. While we do understand that the focus needed to remain on the cultural differences and the families, maybe a little bit more of Ezra and Amira’s progress in their own relationship with racial differences and challenges would have made the movie a little bit better, but that doesn’t mean it was a bad movie, in fact, You People was far from bad. Where it lacked in romance, it made up for in comedy, and we have Eddie Murphy to thank for that.
Eddie Murphy played the role of Amira’s father, Akbar, who had made up his mind from the very beginning that there was no way he could accept Ezra as his daughter’s boyfriend, let alone son-in-law. But, everyone deserves a chance, and that’s exactly what Akbar and Fatima gave Ezra and everything we downhill from there. However, before Ezra met Amira’s parents, Amira met Ezra’s white folks, and that’s something that struck up an interesting conversation, keeping in mind the social climate in the United States of America. The blatant racism towards people of color is no secret in the US, but Ezra’s Jewish family, and especially his mother Shelley, is very ‘woke.’ She is thrilled about the idea of having a black daughter-in-law, someone to show off to her friends, and it’s almost like Amira became a part of her status symbol. This was the perfect example of how someone might not be racist, but still, be ignorant. There were several more instances of Shelley and Amira facing this issue until the climax where Amira finally stands up to Shelley, in a brief but strong monologue. This was one of the main ongoing subplots of You People, and rightfully so. It is something several people of color will resonate with. Again, despite this being a tough topic, the writers did it with tasteful comedy from start to finish, and that was one of the most admirable things about You People, especially this particular subplot. So, if any future mothers-in-law are watching You People, you can take some notes.
Moving along to one of the main subplots of You People, aka the turbulent relationship between Akbar and Ezra, which also caused friction between Ezra and Amira, who we assumed were the perfect couple that never fought. Akbar was like every other tough dad, but he had made up his mind about Ezra from the very beginning. As for Ezra, he tried. In the history of romance movies and romantic comedies, no man has tried to fit in with his girlfriend’s family as hard as Ezra did, and we applaud the writers for it, and we applaud Jonah Hill for pulling this role off, especially since he had to do it opposite Eddie Murphy. While Shelley and Amira had their ups and down, Akbar and Ezra mostly had their downs, and when Ezra quit his job to pursue his dream job of podcasting, things only got worse. Ezra wasn’t ignorant or racist, he was aware of how hard it was for black people in the USA, and he was always aware that he would never be able to understand their struggle. But, Akbar didn’t see any of that. Once Akbar crashed Ezra’s bachelor party in Vegas, he couldn’t look past Ezra’s friends and his party-hooked lifestyle before he met Amira. Just like Amira confronted Shelley, Ezra also confronted Akbar, and neither of those was an easy conversation, but it showed us different perspectives and two sides to the same coin.
Now you might be thinking that You People sounds more political and social than a romantic comedy, but that wasn’t the case, and the cast made all the difference in this movie. Whether it was Jonah Hill’s new look, his love for sneakers, and his being a perfect romantic. Or if it was Eddie Murphy being a hard-ass and still managing to make everything funny, while also starting some important conversations. Let’s not forget Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the queen of comedy who has recently been ruling Marvel, but it’s been nice to see her in a role like this again. She was the perfect white woman and mother, no one could have played her role but her. Nia Long was involved in the movie, but not too involved, making her one of the best-supporting actresses in You People, and David Duchovny, Molly Gordon, and Sam Jay, all played brilliant supporting characters in the romantic comedy. The cast of You People was one of the best parts of the movie, and if you haven’t made up your mind about watching it just yet, we recommend it for the cast, and of course, the tasteful comedy.
A few other reasons you should stream You People is the music and background score, which was phenomenal and something we hadn’t expected from a romantic comedy. The editing of the movie played an important part, even though at times it made it feel like multiple different sketches, it was unique and definitely interesting. And did we mention Eddie Murphy and Jonah Hill? Because if we didn’t, we surely will again. We are certain this duo had some brilliant moments off-screen too, and if there’s a sequel of You People, we need to see them play basketball together. The podcast that Ezra and Mo hosted was also an interesting part and sparked a lot of questions in our minds, and we absolutely would love to see them actually do something like that on Spotify. We can go on and on about why we think you need to get on Netflix and stream You People right now, but we will let you make the rest of the decision.
Conclusion
If it wasn’t obvious enough from our review, despite the little flaws, we suggest you stream You People instead of skipping it, and you definitely won’t regret this decision. Do let us know in the comments what you thought about the movie!
Deepti is a prolific content writer for OpenMediaHub who specializes in movies, tv shows, and web series, along with occasional reviews. Her interests lie in watching different genres and reading comics books, although her main passion is writing for as long as she remembers.
