You People deals with race and religion in a cringeworthy comedy

Google Image

Matthew Adams
Staff Writer

SPOILER ALERT

A new romantic comedy on Netflix has emerged onto the mainstream scene called “You People” and some viewers have mixed feelings about it.

The movie is directed by “Black-ish” writer Kenya Barris and actor Jonah Hill. The star-studded cast includes: Eddie Murphy, Nia Long, Jonah Hill, and Lauren London, just to name a few of the myriad of great cast members.

I think this movie encompassed two highlighted worldviews that many would say don’t gel well together, race and religion.

The film follows the life of the main male character, Ezra. He is a Jewish podcaster, who is pursuing his dreams and created a podcast called “The Mo and E-Z Show” with his friend Mo.  But even though he was chasing this dream, he was working every day in a job he did not want. 

After leaving his day job, Ezra mistakes a black woman named Amira for his Uber driver and somehow this ignites a spark between the two and they end up in a relationship.

Generally, as relationships grow, emotions grow stronger and eventually it is time to meet each other’s family. And this is where the issue arises: Ezra comes from a Jewish background while Amira comes a Muslim background. 

I believe the difference between their cultures helped the movie convey a lot of social issues addressed in today’s society.

Despite their differences, Ezra invited Amira to his parent’s house. This started a large number of culturally tone-deaf comments from Ezra’s family to Amira, the underlying theme of this movie. 

The couple did not let this stop their relationship from growing deeper. Ezra decided to propose but culturally he had to get a blessing from Amira’s parents first. 

He invited her parents to dinner at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles. Painting Ezra in a light not much different from how his family treated Amira in the early parts of the movie. 

Ezra became a nervous wreck and tried hard to keep conversation going without offending the parents of his future wife. After enough nervous babbling, he ended the dinner but he did not get Amira’s parents blessing and Ezra returned home to Amira, shared his feelings and he still proposed. 

With this crazy turn of events, the couple plan their bachelor/bachelorette parties in Las Vegas. Ezra boards the plane with his friend Mo and is encountered by Amira’s father, who does not see Ezra suitable to be in a relationship with Amira.

Amira and her group of confidants plan a trip to a resort and are plagued with Ezra’s mother’s presence and she makes these uncomfortable remarks and doesn’t mix well with the group of people.

Both Ezra or Amira seem to leave bad impressions on each other’s parents throughout the whole trip. After the trip is over and their families are back in their respective places, the couple decided to push the envelope again and invite both sets of parents to a dinner. 

This proved to be a terrible idea and it created a giant rift in the couple’s relationship and it led to both of them reaching their boiling points regarding the constant pressure of their parents.

Each has their own ending experiences with their respective parent-in-law and the two end up calling the marriage off. But to their surprise, their parents seem to get over their differences to plan the couple a surprise wedding for all their friends and family to attend.

Overall, I think it was a good movie and I recommend it for people who enjoy cringe comedy because it will make you laugh. I also feel like it was a bit cliche and every scene was about race and that could have been dialed back a little bit.