(WARNING: Spoilers ahead!)
With Valentine’s Day recently passing and Black History Month ongoing, Netflix’s You People seemed like the perfect film to watch. A cheesy rom-com not ignorant of the challenges that come with interracial romantic relationships. Furthermore, it starred a very interesting pair as the couple: Lauren London and Jonah Hill. However, was the film a little too adamant about showcasing these issues that they forgot the romance aspect?
You People directed by Kenya Barris is a Netflix rom-com following an interracial couple heading to the aisle but not without difficulty from their families and the clashing of cultural aspects. Lauren London stars as Amira, a young, Black stylist, and Jonah Hill as Ezra, a broker and podcast co-host. The two play a couple navigating their romantic relationship despite their very different realities. The film takes the audience through the various stages of their relationship, from bonding over shared interests, values, and sense of humor to meeting the families. Most rom-coms follow a specific format: meet-cute leading up to the fairytale wedding. Only You People emphasizes the struggles of dating interracially in regards to how the families may react, not having a shared experience in society with your partner, and navigating the different cultures involved.
In this specific case, Amira’s father Akbar is very “fight the power”. At the same time, Ezra’s mother, Shelley, is a fairly accurate depiction of a “Karen” trying very hard to maintain a “hip” image. Chaos begins with the two families meeting their child’s partner. Shelley continuously makes ignorant remarks in an attempt to show how cultured she is without genuinely getting to know Amira. On the other hand, Amira’s father, Akbar, is disappointed that Ezra’s white so he gives Ezra no chance to win him over by only looking for qualities that would further deem him unworthy of his daughter. We start the film enjoying the chemistry between Amira and Ezra as their relationship progresses, but it’s cut short when the families get more involved. It goes from cute dates and bonding to fights over problems with little to no solutions, since the two realize that they will always live different realities together.
There’s a scene in which Ezra and his Black best friend, Mo, are recording an episode of their podcast when Mo states, “Black people and white people will never be cool.” Ezra initially disagrees, but when he and Amira later break up for three months due to the issues that come with their differences, he changes his mind. He responds by saying, “love isn’t enough,” demonstrating that the couple needs to accept these differences and have difficult conversations so that they can overcome them. Luckily, since it is a rom-com, the two make amends, and the families officially put together their wedding to make them Mr. and Mrs. Mohammed-Cohen.
Overall, the movie was entertaining and fulfilled most of my rom-com wishes. However, I wish that there wasn’t so much emphasis on the political aspects and the struggle to cultivate harmony between Black and white people. I feel that the characters were almost being portrayed stereotypically concerning their cultures solely to get that point across. It felt like the struggles of dating interracially were almost exaggerated to near satire. While these struggles are a hundred percent real, it’s okay for a romantic comedy to star an interracial couple without making it a think-piece on society.