Movie Review: “You People” underachieves despite comedic firepower
“You People” is a tougher film to review, because while the all star, race tackling comedy, does provide some amusing moments, you have to question whether it meets expectations given how much comedic fire power they had on the set.
And this movie is all about the cast.
Ezra (Jonah Hill) is unlucky in love and comes from a proud Jewish family. When he meets Amira (Lauren London) in a mix up over an Uber, they realize they are absolutely perfect for each other.
The problem is that their families are absolutely not perfect for each other.
Ezra’s parents (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and David Duchovny) clash with Amira’s devout Muslim parents (here played by Eddie Murphy and Nia Long) almost instantly over every cultural difference you can think of, with JLD painfully over compensating for their differences, and Murphy refusing to budge on his own intolerance. It’s an almost cruel cultural mess being depicted on screen by multiple acting heavyweights and two bonafide comedic Saturday Night Live legends.
It’s fine. But its got some problems too.
When all six main characters share the screen, it’s gold. Most of the jokes land. Its hard not to like Duchovny’s Arnold, who is both almost oblivious to the disconnect taking place in front of him while also being terribly kind. I wish we could have seen more of them.
But going down the stretch the jokes get lazier and pettier, and really below the talent we have on screen. The film is almost mean at times. Director Kenya Burris also goes with some scene transitions and montages that really aren’t needed. We’ve got comic royalty here. Just let them act. It also could have been 20 minutes shorter.
In the end “You People” is fine. But it should have been great.
You People
Grade: C+
Rated: R
Running Time: 1 hour and 58 minutes.