You People is a modern take on the romantic comedy, exploring questions of race, faith, cultural differences, societal expectations, and generational expectations. You People follows Ezra on his search for love and podcast success when a chance encounter with Amira brings unexpected happiness into his life. The pair fall in love and begin a relationship that leads to an engagement, but the joy of this is threatened when they introduce their parents.
You People is co-written by star Jonah Hill and director Kenya Barris, who approach the romantic comedy genre through the difficulties many couples face today. You People doesn’t shy away from the reality of today, with Amira and Ezra facing the obstacles of disapproving parents and societal expectations as the movie examines how these external pressures can take a toll on relationships. You People features a star-studded cast that includes Eddie Murphy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Duchovny, Nia Long, and Lauren London alongside Hill.
Screen Rant spoke with Murphy about his new romantic comedy, You People. Murphy discussed working with director Kenya Barris and co-star Jonah Hill. He also broke down why approaching tough concepts through comedy makes them more palpable.
Eddie Murphy On You People
Screen Rant: Eddie, first of all, amazing job on this film. The story feels so relevant, especially today with the newer generations having different mentalities than their parents. Why do you think this approach to such real-world issue shines through so well through comedy?
Eddie Murphy: Comedy makes anything go down easy. If you have something serious, you could get your point across and have a sense of humor about it. Even public speakers, anything—if you throw some comedy in it, it makes it easy to digest. And this movie? Most romantic comedies don’t have race, there’s nothing about any race or anything like that in it.
And right now, where race is the tension, and racial tension in the country is at a fever pitch, to have this romantic comedy with this little race edge and this little conversation that’s happening about race is just super hip and timely. Couldn’t be a better time.
I couldn’t agree with you more. It’s the perfect movie for this age. You’ve worked with Kenya before in Coming 2 America. What was it like working with him as a director versus working with him as a producer?
Eddie Murphy: Well, a writer is contributing to making a film, just like the actors. The one that makes the movie is a director. Directors make movies, and they make them half on the set, actually. Not even half on the set. 20% of it is on the set, and 80% of it is in the editing room. The director and the editor make movies.
You’re working with somebody that just wrote [it], was a contributor, and now he’s steering the whole ship. The director is steering the ship; the director is making the movie. Ultimately, the finished product is what the director did, not the actor. How ever great somebody’s performance was or how well something was written, ultimately, what you’re seeing is the director expressing himself.
There’s a fantastic scene with you and Jonah where Akbar is taking Ezra throughout all these places in the neighborhood from the barbershop to the park, and I love the chemistry between you two. What did Jonah bring to the role of Ezra that wasn’t necessarily on the page?
Eddie Murphy: Jonah really is Ezra. He knows all hip hop music, and he knows the Black culture, and he has all of that stuff that was real. He was mentioning stuff I don’t even know about.
You’re a father of 10. If you could bestow any advice onto parents about meeting their children’s suitors, what would that be?
Eddie Murphy: Oh, I’m not even going to go down that road. I’m not going to go down that road. It’s eight billion people on the planet, and no two people are the same. And you never know who’s going to come home. If your child comes home with the devil, can’t nobody give you no advice. This is what you do when your child comes home with Lucifer. If it happens, you got to work that out on your feet.
About You People
All Ezra wants is to find love and for his podcast to take off when a chance meeting with Amira seems to be the answers to his dreams. Ezra and Amira are swept up in a whirlwind romance that leads to an engagement, but with this happy news comes the complication of introducing the soon-to-be in-laws. When cultures, religions, and generations clash, Ezra and Amira’s love is tested.
Check out our other You People interviews here:
- Nia Long & Kenya Barris
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus & David Duchovny
- Sam Jay & Travis Bennett
You People is in select theaters now and will premiere on Netflix on January 27.
