Karl Puschmann: Jonah Hill’s labour of love mostly just laborious

Jonah Hill and Eddie Murphy star in romcom You People, streaming now on Netflix.

Underneath the street culture-cool of Jonah Hill’s new film You People lies the beating, soppy heart of a traditional square rom-com. It shoots for something more, something deeper, something fire - to borrow the lingo for a second - but misses the mark to instead bounce harmlessly off the hoop.

The movie, which is streaming now on Netflix, follows Hill’s character Ezra, a bored Jewish investment banker by day and enthused street culture podcaster by night. His parents are encouraging him to date a fellow Jew but his interests - sneakers and hip-hop mostly - fail to align with any of the women he goes out with. Mistaken identity sees Ezra jumping into the backseat of what he believes to be his Uber but actually belongs to Amira, a costume designer who is lost and parked up outside his office to work out where she is.

Lauren London as Amira and Jonah Hill as Ezra in You People.

He’s looking for love, she’s looking for directions and together they drive full throttle to Love Street. It’s all going swimmingly until it’s time for them to meet each other’s parents. Ezra’s mum Shelley is an overbearing Karen type, enthusiastically played by Julia Loius-Dreyfus, who loves the novelty of her son having an African-American girlfriend, while his old man’s knowledge of black culture seemingly extends only as far as Pimp My Ride host and rapper Xzibit. David Duchovny commits to the role with a laconic mumble and a barely awake performance that balances out Louis-Dreyfus’ hyperactiveness wonderfully.

Meanwhile, Ezra has to contend with Amira’s parents, in particular her militant dad Akbar who is less than thrilled that her daughter has partnered up with a white Jewish lad. He’s played by Eddie Murphy and his plethora of cutting one-liners and flawless delivery. Akbar’s constant antagonism towards Ezra is the best part of the film. Especially the glee he takes in his attempts at proving Ezra is not the one for Amira, like taking him to a barbershop when he’s inadvertently wearing the gang colours of a rival neighbourhood or crashing his Vegas stag do to ensure Ezra has a sour and completely sober time.

David Duchovny as Arnold and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Shelley in You People.

Without Murphy, the whole movie would be a tremendous bore. Hill has well-established comedic chops, and he riffs well off Murphy, and Louis-Dreyfus is a comedy treasure, but it’s Murphy who elevates and, let’s face it, saves the film. Lauren London is fine as Amira, but aside from her humourous introductory scene isn’t given much in the way of comedy to do. Instead, she’s relegated to the role of educator and cultural adviser.

None of this is to say that it’s not a mildly humourous and breezy watch. It is. London and Hill have an easy chemistry and you do root for the pair to overcome their parents’ objections and embarrassments and get together.

If you like romcoms, you could certainly do a lot worse than You People. It’s just entirely predictable and not as profound as it clearly wants to be. It embraces the genre’s strict tropes while also trying to make a pointed statement about race relations in America. It’s an ambitious ask, and by going for both Hill and his co-writer and director Kenya Barris haven’t fully satisfied either. You People is too cheesy to be cool and it’s too broad and cartoonish to be politically poignant. It also wraps up way too neatly and has a fair share of unbelievable plot contrivances. But hey, romcoms, right?

Eddie Murphy as Akbar and Jonah Hill as Ezra in You People.

I suspect they were going for a cross between Spike Lee’s 1991 provocative sociopolitical romantic drama Jungle Fever and the comedic antics of Ben Stiller’s 2000 smash Meet the Parents. They’ve ended up neither as pointed as Lee’s work nor as over-the-top funny as Stiller’s. There are funny scenes and some decent cringe comedy but there’s no line as gut-busting or memorable as Robert DeNiro’s stony-faced dinner-table question to Stiller’s character in Meet the Parents: “I have nipples, Greg. Could you milk me?”

Comedy can be a powerful tool, and falling in love is something that unites people from all over the free world. Sadly, You People’s commentary isn’t anything new and is extremely unlikely to convert anyone who doesn’t already believe in equal rights and that black lives matter. Nevertheless, the normalisation of bicultural relationships and the highlighting of the social challenges involved can only be a good thing.

The movie, while heavy-handed, is obviously sincere and a labour of love for Hill. It’s just a shame that despite the odd moment of hilarity it’s fairly laborious itself.