Netflix's "You Individuals" is a staggering disappointment, a gathering of ability searching for a real film. It is a contemporary attempt by the creator of "Black-ish" to imitate "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," and actor Jonah Hill co-wrote it. Just a small rewrite away is a broad parody of comedies that focus on racial stereotypes and differences, similar to "Naked Gun." Really, most of those insane movies feel more guaranteed than this relationship spoof, a film that so rarely sounds exact it starts to make your hair stand on end. No one talks along these lines. This behavior is not typical. Furthermore, in the event that a film will zero in on racial contrasts in the way that "You Individuals" is so anxious to do, it requirements to essentially attempt to tell the truth to cause the jokes to feel not exactly shallow. In any case, it's nothing more than making fun of controversial issues, generalizations, and shaky jokes that drunks tell at bars. It's almost surprising how funny "You People" is because there are so many talented people I like, and Black-ish was much sharper and more funny for a few years than this movie.
You People
Slope portrays Ezra Cohen, who co-hosts a webcast about racial contrasts with a Dark co-host named Mo (Sam Jay). It is one of those digital broadcasts that "talk about existence/issues," yet even here, the content by Barris and Slope sounds wrong all along. Despite the fact that the entire purpose of these podcasts is to have casual, spontaneous conversations, they overwrite the scenes with awkward dialogue that sounds like it was written in a script. Additionally, it is a poor foreshadowing of the upcoming events. The film seems like it needs to say, "See, this person has an old buddy who is Dark." He will not disturb you.
Ezra meets Amira Mohammed (Lauren London) when he coincidentally gets into an unsuitable vehicle thinking it is his Uber. The two begin dating. Six months later, Ezra has decided to wed Amira and is prepared to request permission from her parents, Akbar (Eddie Murphy) and Fatima (Nia Long). Akbar assesses Ezra immediately and establishes that he isn't the ideal individual for his girl. From that point onward, he attempts to break Ezra by constraining him into sitcom-like circumstances that are intended to make him fizzle. Putting him on a basketball court, forcing him to wear the wrong gang color to a barbershop, or even accompanying him to his bachelor party are all examples of these situations. As though he were in a show about racial divisions, Murphy plays it all madly straight. Even though a lot of the other actors in this movie wink at the camera, Murphy starts to look like he's in another movie. Only one of the wide clear issues create some distance from Barris as, an extremely figured out boss what film he was making with the end result of giving it to his cast. Because no one is on the same page, there is an odd comedic disconnect between scenes and sometimes within the same beat.
Naturally, a movie like "You People" has to have the other side, and Ezra's parents, Shelley (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Arnold (David Duchovny), are on that side. Duchovny generally takes an optional parlor with a dry joke or two as Louis-Dreyfus plays the "other risky parent" to Amira. Despite this, Shelley's performance as a woman who only sees superficial aspects of Black culture makes the social commentary angle interesting. Late in the film, Amira says that Shelley sees her like another toy. The movie should have talked more about how people like Shelley can be fascinated by Black culture without ever trying to understand it, which would have been nice.
Hill and Barris are always coming up with new ideas before going back to the same old gag. The exchange in "You Individuals" appears to have originated from a machine designed to produce strange zingers from the very beginning, particularly in an early scene that features unusual appearances by legends such as Elliott Gould, Hal Linden, and Richard Benjamin. The movie has an awkward rhythm that makes me feel uneasy because it feels so forced. The film's awkward editing detracts from its comedic rhythm, and the dialogue sounds out of place. Because scenes are intercut with flashy graphics that I believe are meant to be provocative, it has the structure of a sketch comedy show rather than a movie.
The horrible thing about "You People" is that it's shrewd with a unimaginable cast. This isn't the sort of satire we've been sitting tight for about how racially assorted couples conflict socially. You People" is just not charmed by any of the considerations it raises, consistently going for the humble laugh or the inescapable unwieldy conversation. It's just two hours of horrendous jokes searching for genuine characters. It hurts more than it hurts when a script is so off-key that it fails actors as genuine talented and likable as Hill, Murphy, and Louis-Dreyfus. Every day, bad comedies happen.
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