Breaking

In defense of You People, the hit Netflix movie you hated - The Guardian
Jan 31, 2023 1 min, 26 secs
More reinterpretation than remake of the 1967 classic Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, You People – Black-ish creator Kenya Barris’s feature film directing debut -is a typical romcom by the numbers.But instead of two basic white people playing the will they, won’t they game, writer Jonah Hill is Ezra, a white Jewish man trying to make it work with a Black Muslim woman called Amira, played by Lauren London, in spite of their hidebound families.

But I found him believable as hecracked wise about his kids having light skin and freaked out about his kufi hat, gifted from Louis Farrakhan, catching fire, I was right there with him, in stitches the whole time.

Throw in the hip-hop-inspired fashion sense, the Black best friend (Sam Jay) and rapier wit, and Ezra starts looking quite like the kind of swaggy white ally you see all around Los Angeles – the guy who quotes Drake without irony, dominates pickup basketball games in Inglewood and cruises Melrose sneaker shops in a tie-dye tracksuit, walking on the sidewalk street side of his boo.

David Duchovny as Arnold, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Shelley, Jonah Hill as Ezra, Lauren London as Amira, Eddie Murphy as Akbar, and Nia Long as Fatima in You People.

At one point, Amira snaps “I’m not a toy” at her potential mother-in-law, who can’t seem to find any other ways to connect with the Howard grad than to compliment her on her acrylic nails and bamboo earrings.

Romcoms as a whole have been taking it on the chin lately – from Julia Roberts and George Clooney’s straightforward Ticket to Paradise (too formulaic, said critics) to Billy Eichner and Luke Macfarlane’s gay-themed Bros (a box office bomb).

RECENT NEWS

SUBSCRIBE

Get monthly updates and free resources.

CONNECT WITH US

© Copyright 2024 365NEWSX - All RIGHTS RESERVED