You People

Directed by Kenya Barris

★★½

You People. (L to R) David Duchovny as Arnold, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Shelley, Jonah Hill (Writer-Producer) as Ezra, Lauren London as Amira, Eddie Murphy as Akbar, and Nia Long as Fatima in You People. Cr. Parrish Lewis/Netflix © 2023.

Comedies are always interesting things to dissect. As all films are, comedy is subjective, but even more so than its sibling genres. 

Netflix’s latest comedy pairs some giant heavy-weight comedic names (Jonah Hill, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, and Eddie Murphy) with somewhat newcomer Lauren London, and helmed by writer/director Kenya Barris in his feature debut, about a man (Hill) who finally meets a girl (London) that is interesting and a match, but when their cultures and parents (Louis Dryfuss & David Dachovny and Murphy & Nia Long) intersect, things don’t exactly go smoothly. 

Our country’s culture is the target for this comedy’s aim, specifically the incorporation of both Black and White cultures when love sees them intersect. It’s a worthy subject, but You People’s aim is scattershot at best. It’s worth noting that both Hill and Louis-Dryfuss are champions of improv, and being an oft-comedic writer, Burns allows them to do so throughout the film. And sometimes this works, especially when Hill is paired up with Sam Jay or Molly Gordon. More often than not, however, these scenes don’t add to the film in any coherent way, opting to drag the pace rather than beef up the plot. The most egregious examples are whenever Murphy is able to improv, he is by far one of the most iconic comedians of his generation, but his underwritten character serves up more confusion than laughs whenever he finally says something other than what Jack Lemmon would say in Grumpy Old Men.

There is ample subject matter to satirize or point fingers at, but the ineffective way the film is put together causes one not to be able to overlook its incessant handholding and amateur craftsmanship.