Movie Review: You People (Netflix)
MY THOUGHTS ON YOU PEOPLE (NETFLIX MOVIE)
I found this movie to be a courageous counterpunch to the shackles which are increasingly tightened nowadays on entertainment and comedy.
I usually bundle my Netflix reviews into a lengthy list, but the new movie released last week titled You People merits its own commentary and discussion. What follows are my thoughts on the movie and the public reaction to it (including lots of negative fallout), rather than the typical review.
“There’s no way (director) Mel Brooks could make Blazing Saddles today,” is a popular belief. I’ve seen reiterations of this comment posted innumerable times on social media. The widely-held supposition is that no film with glaring stereotypes and overtly racist content would be acceptable to mainstream audiences, let alone attract major stars, and be released by a corporate studio. Who needs the headaches? It’s a belief based on changing attitudes from previous generations and a contemporary culture that’s labeled as “politically correct.”
Well, think again. The new Netflix movie You People smashes that illusion. It’s Blazing Saddles set to a rom-com.
The movie takes place in modern-day Los Angeles. It’s a boy meets girl…they fall in love…let’s get married story, with the predictable distractions of two dysfunctional families that threaten to tear the couple apart and make matrimonial union impossible. The catch is — it’s an interracial (and interfaith) couple. Think of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner blanketed with F-bombs and N-Words.
Nothing is sacred in You People. There are no taboos. There are jokes about White stereotypes, Black stereotypes, being Jewish, overbearing Jewish mothers, the Nation of Islam and Louis Farrakhan, Black barber shops, Jewish privilege, and plenty of dick jokes. There are even punch lines about the Holocaust and slavery. Multiple punch lines. As I said, this movie doesn’t just push back. It obliterates PC culture. The legacy of Mel Brooks (who is releasing his own movie early this year) lives on.
You People is both a hit and miss (and could and should have been a far better movie). The cast is absolutely stellar, especially the four leads — Jonah Hill, Eddie Murphy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Lauren London. Hill continues to show masterful versatility as an actor, seemingly able to immerse himself convincingly into any role. Just watching Hill’s facial reactions while others are onscreen speaking is a joy. Eddie Murphy almost steals the movie playing the impossible father of the bride, a Black militant who’s suspicious of White people (and especially Jews). Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who I’ve never been much of a fan of, is perfect as Hill’s grown-up Valley girl mother. And London, Hill’s Black fiance, brings everything needed to her role as the believable love interest who is the only person in the movie with any sense of reality.
Black-ish creator Kenya Barris directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Hill, which often sounds like Quentin Tarantino-esque dialogue set to a love story. I thought most of the jokes worked, and I found myself laughing out loud more than a dozen times, a few times hilariously so (no, I’m not going to feel guilty about it, either). The barometer on taste and sanity, my wife, not usually a fan of this material was attracted by the rom-com and laughed just as loudly and as often.
Unfortunately, the movie is gratuitously vulgar in some parts (do people really come up to each other in the office workplace and even inside synagogues and make dick jokes?). I wasn’t buying into those scenes. You People is also preposterously predictable. I don’t need to issue any spoiler warnings. You know what will happen in the end. But the ride was fun.
You People isn’t for everybody. Sensitive tastes are advised to stay away. Those easily offended should turn the channel. If Chris Rock’s standup act bothers you, then watch something else.
But I found this movie to be a courageous counterpunch to the shackles which are increasingly tightened on entertainment and comedy nowadays. Writers and filmmakers shouldn’t be bound by intimidation and fear.
Yes, racism and hate are very real problems in our society and they should be addressed in serious ways. But then sometimes, comedy and laughter help to shine the brightest light into the darkness.
