Eddie Murphy marked a shock return to the big screen with Dolemite Is My Name, one of the few strong Netflix releases as the streaming giant switch their focus to in-house productions. It was only a matter of time before the returning momentum dried up and the objectively horrible string of Netflix releases caught up to Murphy and those that feature in the star-clad You People. The key to comedy is humour. You People has none of that. Quick cut clips of the fictional podcast Ezra (Jonah Hill) and Mo (Sam Jay) showcase a bloke speaking out of turn on issues he would, in the real world, be shot down for having a say on. That dissatisfaction with his own religion and issues that do not affect him make Ezra and the surrounding people completely redundant and just a little annoying.
Still, that is the new form of humour You People hopes to provide. Cultural commentary expresses through Julia-Louis Dreyfus attempting to understand tattoos and air-quoting away into a cool sub-genre of motherhood. David Duchovny and Dreyfus have some solid chemistry and moments of independent humour, the one-liner insults are showcased with that well-paced style so important to these features, but they do not match up with the core values. Family encounters, the so-called cavalier mentality against those who expect societal norms to fall in place as they did a generation ago. Even then that contemplation comes with a car crash series of editing, cuts and noncommittal conformity styles to the highs of modern culture.
This is a car crash of a debut feature from Kenya Barris. You People does not feel like a Barris film. It is a Netflix product. From the camera angles down to the characteristics of the supporting characters, each and every setting, the background and the location, it is all refined with that camera quality inherent to Netflix. Murphy and Lauren London appear in some form of quality. You People tries to conform to the traditions of family lineage and at the same time compare itself to the new wave of generational stylings. It is hard to feel much sympathy for a character that, comedic or not, kicks off his shoe so it doesn’t crease while proposing. It is played off as humorous, but it isn’t funny, and it is one of many moments that represent the awful state of current, shoe-loving culture. Awkward family meetings are the core of this, a lack of true understanding of other cultures paves the way.
Humour hopes to play on cultural values, modern pops of “vibe” and a clear misunderstanding between families. There is something interesting that could be done with this film. The fundamentals of the conflict at the core of You People, and the interest it teases in the confirmation of actual, respectful discourse on two differing religions coming together, is switched out for cheap pops of comedy and Hill swearing his way through a two-hour film. Barris’ work comes close to engaging in a real discussion that will have humour buried deep that smarter writing can deliver on, but instead You People turns its hand to the switched-out stereotypes that confirm, more than anything, that this Netflix original has no bright spark. Do the research into these religions and the comedy can be humorous and informative, rather than insultingly basic and underwhelmingly cheap.
