You People (2023)

You People is often laugh out loud funny. Hill and London are hilarious together and Barris and Hill's script is consistently funny often going down uncomfortable wormholes that purposefully make us more and more clenched until we can't do anything but laugh. But the story itself feels rather heavy handed and constructed. The story feels more like it is serving a premise than existing as an organic story.

While Hill and London are very funny together, the film never makes a convincing argument for their relationship. From their meet-not-so-cute through their dating scenes, you never really see them connect. Instead the movie just asks us to assume they are in love. And their families are set up as rather single note caricatures. The film might have just clicked more if the characters felt more real and their journey felt more organic.

But that doesn't stop the film from being smart and funny with witty critiques of culture clashes as it sets out its scenes of conflict. Murphy and Louis-Dreyfus are both comedic legends and they both do great work even if their characters never get a three-dimensional treatment. Generally the film is less a great story and more a series of funny scenes that give us some interesting food for thought as we move through it. It would have been great if it could have been both, but despite the times I was pulled from the movie I was still enjoying it. 

You People

Starring: Johah Hill, Lauren London, Eddie Murphy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Nia Long, David Dechovny, Molly Gordon, Sam Jay, Mike Eps, Rhea Perlman, Matt Walsh

Director: Kenya Barris

Writers: Jonah Hill, Kenya Barris