When a Rich Jewish Family Meets a Black Muslim Family: 'You People' Movie Review

He quits a job in finance to do a podcast, and his podcast partner is a black guy, and they're talking about- A woman, actually. What? A woman, actually. That guy was a woman? It was, yes. His friend, the moe with the shaved head, the female, that was his podcast partner. I thought his podcast partner was a man. The poor woman, I thought it was a guy. You wanna give an apology to Sam Jay? You wanna look to the camera? Yes, I do. Sam, Sam, this is totally on me. This is 100%. This is my own shortcoming, my inability to see a difference between a man and a woman. There's too much of that in society today, right? I can't even identify a gender anymore. I'm sorry, this was insane. Let me make it up to you. You dating a black girl? I've never felt so understood by somebody. Hi, welcome to The Real Generation Gap. I'm BJ Kang. I'm Fred Satulli. And the movie we're reviewing today is the 2023 film, You People. Yeah, you know what it was? Cashing in on wholesale racism. You know what I always say, if you're gonna exploit the black population, throw the Jews in with them, right? And what a mess that was. Worlds collide as a young couple in the modern age try to keep the relationship afloat when meeting each other's families who differ entirely on religion, culture, and values. And race. Yeah. I didn't know who they made this movie for. I've had problems with movies before for this. Well, some people have said that this is sort of like a modern retelling of an older film you might know called Look Who's Coming to Dinner. Yes. Or Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, so it's, I heard, some critics have said that it's a modern retelling of that. Yeah, but that was at a different time when that was like a controversial thing or something. Now we have interracial couples like all over the place. And the fact that these families were so radical, you know. Yeah. It was funny to see Eddie Murphy was the Muslim convert. Yeah, Akbar, yeah. Right, yeah, Akbar, right. Meanwhile, his friends called him Woody. Yeah. You know. And he was trying to be taken seriously that way. And that was, you know, like a classic weird cliche thing. And the fact that it was Eddie Murphy, he did a good job on the part, but it was a bad character. Like it was a goofy. Almost a character, I would suppose. But almost, yeah. Absolutely, absolutely. And then Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the Jewish mother, she was the caricature too. She just, one of those people, and white people are often really guilty of this. They try to like be black or act black or use like a black vernacular or like make like body motions that they think is like ghetto or gangster or something. And it's really stupid. What are you doing? I'm putting on Harriet Tubman. You know, it's a black history month. Yeah, yeah. Thank you, super fly. What? Nothing, it's just never seen you so styling. Just some new clothes, that's all. Gotta get out more, my brother. Really? And I live in Compton, you know? I go to an exercise gym like that and there's all, every race is, genders and races and everything is there, like just the most melting pot thing ever. And none of those people do any of that stuff with me. There's nobody like flashing gang signs or going yo, yo, yo or, you know, any kind of, it's like, hey, Fred, how you doing? What are you doing today? You working on your legs or something? It's like, yeah, yeah. It's like, oh, you're looking good, man. You know, there's not this like cartoon caricature racism. I don't see it in my world. Everybody's, I got neighbors that their race doesn't enter into it. So this movie, like maybe in the 70s or something. I mean, I think that's definitely an interesting take for sure. So just to give like sort of like a brief sort of overview about the film. It's essentially a story about a young kind of sort of non-practicing Jewish man, Ezra, who meets a black nation of Islam. Sorry about that, a black nation of Islam girl, Amira. And then, you know, they form a sort of a very strong connection and bond and relationship. And then it kind of all gets challenged once they have to meet each other's families who are from completely different racial backgrounds, cultural backgrounds, you know, religious backgrounds, like everything about them. They're from the same town, you know what I mean? It's not like this guy went like to a whole different state or country or whatever. And that's another thing, what you said, they form this bond, the interracial couple, right? They don't show that in the movie. They do, like in the beginning, when they first meet and stuff like that. Shit. You okay? But you're not getting five stars. You're not an Uber driver. I mean, honestly, you guys are twins. Oh my God, wait, she really does look like me. It's a very casual bond. I got friends that I'm close with that I don't sleep with that I got that good of a bond. You know what I mean? For them, they were not like red hot lovers. Like they didn't have like a common thing where we're both artists or we're both musicians or we're both athletes or, you know what I mean? It was just like, we're just regular people. He wasn't especially successful in his job. She wasn't especially successful in her job. You know, they were real middle of the road, not interesting people. You didn't fall in love with either one of them. So I thought the fact that they got together was kind of like they settled for each other. Like, oh, I don't have anybody else. You weren't like invested at all. The girl was beautiful. I don't know, you know, the actor that was Ezra, I didn't think he was like a real leading man or anything. Oh, Jonah Hill. Yeah, he's more of a character actor kind of a guy. He's popular for doing a lot of comedy movies, you know, Superbad and stuff like, his most famous like comedy movies like Superbad and like This is the End and stuff like that. Superbad, they ripped off James Brown. I'm telling you, without my generation, you guys have nothing. Superbad. I'm so bad, my friends call me Superbad. You know, I mean, we're saying this in the 60s. Okay. So yeah, and he wasn't assertive with his family. He wasn't a real overtly masculine guy. He was just kind of fumbling through life. Well, this is sort of like a modern age movie, you know. You're saying people now aren't good looking? I'm not saying that. I'm just saying- The girl was really good looking, the black girl, whatever. I mean, she was really quite beautiful, you know. But it almost was like they didn't really- So you didn't feel like invested at all in like sort of like the relationship, you just didn't buy it. Unlikely couple, uninteresting couple. I didn't, yeah. I also got that sort of same sort of like, sort of general takeaway from the movie was that like a lot of it, and we'll get into this a little bit later, was that a lot of it felt kind of shallow or just a little bit like glossed over a little bit. I did think that the premise was super interesting. And you know, some actor performances were effective, which is probably the best way to really describe anyone in this movie. Yeah, Duchovny nailed it. Yeah, yeah, he really, he was completely detached from the whole situation. Oh my gosh, you are so beautiful. I think the police are fucked up towards black people. I like your braids. Thank you. Exhibit head braids. I did love David Duchovny as well. I'm a big, I love X-Files, big David Duchovny fan, you know. And so I love him whenever he shows up in comedy movies as a very dry sort of humor, you know, just very- Yeah, I would have never cast him for this, but he nailed it. He did do a really good job. I was like, Duchovny, what's he doing in that, you know? I was actually fairly remarkably- Yeah, look at that. I was actually fairly remarkably surprised by Eddie Murphy's performance. I thought he did actually a pretty good job of seeming like he has this sort of good, like this, you know, this guy who's got something to prove. He's sort of, you know, putting on a shoulder. Yeah, he's putting on a front and he's trying to be real stern and he's definitely extremely judgmental throughout like the entire movie and stuff like that. How are you? This is your white granddaddy come back to haunt me. What? Now this is my fault? So you want to marry my daughter? Yes, yes I do. Well, Ezra, you could try. You know, well, his character, yeah. Well, it's written that way. Yeah. It's unfairly judgmental. A little bit, yeah. You know, every single question or statement is a test. Yeah. You know, and I personally feel, this is just me. This is not, I don't expect anybody else to agree with this or something. But to me, being angry is not acting, you know? Like, I'm thinking of Dog Day afternoon, Al Pacino screaming out. It's like, I can go and scream and yell about something. I can get really mad. I can throw Moody, you know what I mean? I can get, you know. And to me, that's not like first class acting. So, I mean, Eddie Murphy's part wasn't supposed to be anything other than what he did. He did act out his part. But somebody that's just mad all the time and a little bit loud and a little bit, it's to me, that's not like, that's not a hard acting job. That's something I feel as an actor that I could do easily. Some of these highly emotional, introspective parts and everything that suck me in and make me cry and that, those are the act. So his part didn't allow for any really fantastic acting. There was no real potential for him to be an award-winning actor in this episode. And I also think he's wearing this ridiculous hat, right? I believe he's called the Sufi, I believe. Oh, isn't that great? You have a name for it. Yeah, like that legitimizes it. People who do uniform signaling. Really? Right, like a Jew with a yarmulke. It's like, please, really? Well, I mean like- Really? You're working here at the hardware store, you're wearing a yarmulke? That's a thing like an elitism thing. Like a holier than thou, like I'm special. I got the uniform. And especially women with the headscarves. I'm like, are you kidding? It's 98 degrees out. You're coming out with a headscarf? I don't buy it. Well, I think- It's an affectation. I feel like you're kind of proving the point though, is that like you have these cultural, I mean, you're already pointing out that you don't agree with that sort of thing. But like to them, it's something that means a lot to them and stuff like that. It's not necessarily- Yeah, it means a lot to them because they're full of it. Oh, really? It's an affectation. You know what I mean? It's a signal. It's like wearing a MAGA hat, right? I've come in with a MAGA hat somewhere. Well, I'm looking for trouble, right? Somebody's gonna come up, I'm like, hey man, I don't appreciate that or something. And that's how I feel about that kind of stuff. Everybody else is dressed normally, but this guy's wearing a uniform. He's wearing it. You know what I mean? He's making a statement and he's challenging you to challenge that. He's, you know, I'm gonna dress this way and you're gonna put up with it. You're not gonna think it's strange. You're not gonna say anything. And I don't dig that. You know what I mean? Some people, Ben Shapiro can wear a yarmulke, but mostly everybody else- Why just Ben Shapiro? Because he's an uber Jew. You know what I mean? Like he's like Mark Levin. Like he's focused all day long. But, and especially we had the movie last week where the Filipino lady was the convert. So she was the uber Jew, right? Yeah, this guy's the uber Muslim. He's just not like a chill Muslim. You know, some people you would never know. Yeah. I think that that's sort of like, you know, discussions like that and commentaries like that on like society and all that. Like that's a big part of like the movie. I mean, it's kind of funny. It's very overt. I would say it's not at all subtle. There's nothing done with like any other, any of the other elements of the film, like, you know, music or camera decisions or even like some subtle themes. It's very overt, explicit. There's literally like segments of the movie where him and his friend, I think Mo, they have a podcast together and they talk about these topics. So it's like, it's very overt and stuff like that. Yeah, it's a movie about racism. A little bit, yeah. Not just racism, but also like culture. The white parents are just, you know, they're in awe that they're even in the presence of black people because in their Jewish community, they're not. You know what I mean? So they're like, wow, I have a black friend. Now I have a black daughter-in-law. Like I'm the hippest one in the synagogue. Like I'll tell all my friends, I got something they don't have, you know? And it's kind of like having a pet, you know? And I don't dig that. And that's something that's brought up later in that confrontation scene with Amira. Right, she actually says it. Yeah, she comes out and says it. Was that a scene to you that you found satisfying? Yes, it was. Yeah, she let her have it. The black girl, the beautiful black girl. Now the beautiful black girl. Amira, yeah. Another thing that I was kind of like, really, you have to do this? These over-processed black women, I'm not sure why they do this. So she had like a bachelorette party or something like that, like a wedding shower, I guess you would call it. And all the girlfriends looked like they were on a TV talk show. Like they were way, way overdressed or way over-processed. The hair, the nails, they're wearing wigs. They got bizarre makeup on. They look clowny. Like you don't have to do that. It's a beautiful girl, period. Look at that face. Right? You didn't have to make giant earrings. Well, I mean, once again, it's part of their culture. A lot of this movie is about the difference in culture and stuff like that. I mean, Fred, this movie could very well be about you. Let's say you had a kid of your own and they married someone from a different culture. And if you were to say the same things, guess what, Fred, you're in the movie. But I wouldn't be if my son came home with a black girl. I wouldn't be going, yo, what's up? You know? Yeah, but it's a different, I'm saying it's just a different flavor of you saying, why are you wearing this? And you're all processed like that and stuff like that. I mean, sounds like it's still kind of around today. That's a shame. I don't see the need for it. I do see women that are like that. I don't know why they go to that extreme. It's not attractive, you know? So why do they feel that they need to do that? I mean, put that in the comment section. Why do you feel like they don't need to do that? No, they certainly may. I don't go up to them and go like, get that wig off. You know, why do you have these extensions that are eight feet long and different colors and everything? I just can't imagine why they bother with all that. Is there, it somehow increases their cash value or something, if you know what I mean? I mean, that's one of the primary like sort of conflicts in the movies. Like they, you know, difference of understanding, difference of just being different, you know? That's one of the things I kind of wish the movie went a little deeper into. Well, Americans were not that different, you know? In the movie last week, they had the guy who wanted to eat the kosher food and he's spitting out the food and stuff. Yeah. There's no need to have that now. You really, really, you can't have milk and meat on the same thing or something, like real, why? That's his belief. It's not, it's, there must have been a value for that somewhere in history. Yeah. But we're at the point now where, you know, I'm just wearing a T-shirt. I didn't come in like all dressed up with some designer thing. I'm putting on something. I got a crazy suit. I'm got some inappropriate clothes or something like that. I don't see why people do all that. Ezra certainly didn't do that. Ezra, the Jewish guy who didn't really want to even be in a synagogue. He's like, whatever, right? He was like a real regular guy. I mean, well, that's part, that's one of the part of the aspects of his character in the film as well, just sort of being, you know, like one part of his tradition, you know? Like, cause even to some extent Amir was like that too. Cause her dad was very much, you know, Akbar was very much like very, you know, super over-processed, way over-processed. Akbar was very adamant about his values and stuff like that. Amir was, you know, a generation further along. He was just confrontational. He didn't have values. He was, he was just full of it. This movie missed the mark for me. Okay, yeah. I think I had that same feeling too, where it had this trouble between, it's like, it's either just like a cute rom-com, you know, or it's like a deeper sort of insight or analysis into, you know, these issues and stuff like that. I didn't see an analysis. I saw exploitation. I saw racial exploitation. It came off like that, like, because there wasn't like a more intelligent sort of approach that you saw as exploitation. They didn't even try. And then, and then this guy, you know, he quits a job in finance to do a podcast and his podcast partner is a black guy and they're talking about- A woman actually. What? A woman actually. That guy was a woman? It was, yes. I'm gonna meet a woman who understands me. I don't think I've heard of a man ever who wanted to be in a relationship so badly besides Drake. I missed that. I totally, I watched this movie. I didn't get that. I really didn't get that. Those are the same characters. Holy smokes. Holy, that's a revelation for me. I'll tell you what. Yeah. Yeah, his friend, the moe with the shaved head, the female, that was his podcast partner. I thought his podcast partner was a man. No, no, no. It was the same person. Even in the thing, somebody said to her, hey, buddy, and she goes, I got titties, right? Yeah. But that's really funny, the poor woman. I thought it was a guy. You wanna give an apology to Sam Jay? You wanna look to the camera? Yes, I do. Sam, Sam, this is totally on me. This is 100%. This is my own shortcoming, my inability to see a difference between a man and a woman. Too much of that in society today, right? I can't even identify a gender anymore. Holy smokes, it's come to this. Sorry, Sam. I mean, I realize I'm an old guy, but wow. Yeah. So what were you saying originally about the podcast? I don't know, but whatever it was, it was probably stupid. Oh my God. Totally overshadowed. Yeah, it was the fact that, now that I know that they're the same person, because I had more respect for her than the podcast guy. Like, I liked that he had, you're my best friend and all this. I bought that. Yeah. Like, he's got a friend who happens to be a black woman. That could be. And I was good with that. The podcast partner was like, ah, this is contrived. You know, you're hooking up with somebody and then you're talking about racial issues with somebody of another race. It's kind of like, oh man. And he gave up some minor career in finance. So he must've been making some amount of money. Yeah. And now he's gonna do this. And the reason he had the latitude to do that was because he was from the rich Jewish family, right? And even when his fiance failed to get a contract for her service as an interior decorator or whatever it was, he said, I'll just talk to my parents and they'll put something together. And she said, no, I make my own way. I have talent. I don't need help from the rich Jew family, you know? You know, and he's like, oh, excuse me. I'm just trying to help. And she's like, that's not helping. I like that scene, you know? That would be something that really, it really could be. Yeah. But he certainly was Jonah Hill, right? He was a very sweet man in the movie. Yeah, he was. He put up with a ton of crap. I mean, it's true. His ability from everybody. I mean, he really, I mean. He was like the only person that was being reasonable with everybody in the room. And to be honest, Lauren London, right? She put up with a real lot of crap too. Yeah. Because she had to sit through all that Jewish mother stuff where it's like, you know, they had like, they'd get together and it's like, oh, what do you think of Magic Johnson or something? Oh my God. I know, David Duchovny kept doing that thing where he was all like, it's like, I love Wu-Tang Clan. They're great. Yeah, right. It's just not even adding anything in the conversation. When white people are like that, it's just, oh, please, what are you listening to this at home? You got this in your car right now? You're, you know, jamming with the Sugar Hill Gang or something, you're, you know, NWA. What did you think of Ezra's character? I mean, because he spent, he, what was it? He sort of, he indulges a lot into sort of like that African-American culture as well. You know, he was, he's a big sneakerhead. He had Jordans and stuff like that. They had a whole scene. I loved it when he played basketball and they gave him the sneakers. That was bitching. Why don't you go out there and get a run in? Now? Yeah, man, go play. Feels like a lot of people waiting and stuff like that. Hey, can my man play? Yeah, come on in, let's go. Telling this? Yeah, kinda. You don't have to. I'm doing it for me. Okay. That was a great scene. And that was the reason that that was great was because Amir Akbar. He brought him to the schoolyard. And like, why don't you go ahead and jump in the game? Like, so he would see that he wasn't a black guy. You know, he would see John Hill, like he couldn't handle being in the black basketball game, right? But then he kicked the ass. He goes, oh, we got to do this again, you know? And that was hard for Eddie Murphy. That was hard for, he was like, damn it. Then he took him to the black hair barbershop. And it was a Crip barbershop. Yeah, like a hangout or something like that. Right, and he made him wear a red sweatshirt. So, you know, they came in. It was like, you can't wear that in here. You have to leave. Yeah, yeah, this is, you know. What's up, man? Why don't you do me a favor and slide up out of that dead hoodie for me? Hmm? Your hoodie, Nick. Wrong color. Why don't you take that shit off? The thing I really liked, the really good thing was when Akbar in his really expensive full-size Mercedes Benz, right? This is the Muslim, right? He's riding with his old friend who's calling him Woody. And the old friend, you know, he's kind of a shucking and jiving kind of a friend doing that cliche. And he tells Eddie Murphy, he goes, you know, you shorted that guy. You didn't treat him right. You weren't fair. You shorted him. You owe him. You're on the wrong side of this thing, man. Like, you didn't come, you weren't a, you know, you weren't a stand-up guy or anything like that. And that guy loves your daughter. And you, you know, you kind of acted like a jerk, you know? Yeah. And that's when Eddie Murphy's like, he knows he's being a jerk the whole time because you know when you are being one, at least I would hope. Yeah. You know, unless like you're a Democrat or something. But, but if, you know, but that's when he had to start thinking about like, wow, I really did short this guy. Yeah. And this guy took everything I threw at him. And that's, that's often a test of a relationship, right? Like you meet somebody that have to make their bones. They got to take everything you throw at them and they take it. Now they're, they become one of you, you know? So I've been tested like that in life where I, you know, entered something and I had to prove myself for a couple of weeks. And after a while, you know, they're defending me now. Like I made it in, right? And his fiance, Lauren London, she throughout the movie, her character really kept it real, you know? Like she, she, she didn't try to affect anything. She was sincere in everything that she did. She was very tolerant and patient with the stupid white, white cracker parents, you know? You know, I guess he thought it'd be hard on you. It was hard on me. I'm like, lady, take it easy. I didn't think the movie was great. There was lots of, there was good moments. What makes you pick this movie? I picked this movie because of the subject matter of like last, you know, when we watched, we watched Between the Temples. Carol Kane. Yeah, we started talking about, you know, sort of the cultural stuff like that. And I thought, you know, it's like, let's show Fred a super, like a movie that came out, very modern issues, very first world sort of problems kind of thing. And just like, you know, peak identity politics, peak sort of like just super where we are now. And I just want to see what your thoughts would be, how you react to it, you know? Okay. Yeah. I didn't, in my world, this doesn't happen. In my day to day, everything I'm doing at the grocery store, the post office, wherever I'm going and everything, I have very little even awareness of racism. Everybody's just whoever they are, whoever they are. Everybody's different, big, tall, fat, skinny, whatever it is. And I'm really just, if you're a nice person, I really like you. If you're not, I don't have any time for you, you know? But if someone, not your race, married to your family, would you feel differently? Okay, so that was my producer. She says, if somebody not of your race married someone in your family, would you have hard feelings about that? And I would say no, but I will say one thing. I could never do it. Really? No, because I couldn't deal with these kind of problems and I couldn't deal with the food or the music or whatever it may be. So that kind of thing. I had a Cuban girlfriend once and her mother was a fantastic cook and I didn't want to eat any of this stuff. I was like, good Lord, what is that, you know? So that kind of thing. Plus, what happened in this movie would happen to you probably in real life. There'd be somebody in the other family that would disapprove and you'd have to deal with that. I had an experience like that myself. Was it like in high school? In high school, I was dating this girl and stuff like that and she was actually Mexican like I was, except I'm half Asian, of course. I found out that after we had broken up that her mother had said, well, I'm glad you guys, it's good that you guys kind of broke up anyways because I didn't want any weird mixed Asian babies or anything like that. Yeah, I know. Asian babies are cute. Apparently weird mixed ones aren't. No one tell my parents that. Right, yeah. But it's interesting because it's like sort of every relationship that I'm in will always be an interracial one and my parents are an interracial relationship. Right. And when it came to them, it was like this movie but honestly, it was a lot tougher. My parents had to elope because neither of their families agreed with them marrying. Really? Yes. I could easily fall in love with a girl from any race but you know that if I had a black girlfriend, the racial aspect of the relationship would come up all the time. Whereas if I have a white girlfriend, there's no racial element. Like everywhere you go, nobody's gonna make a racial comment or even they're like, how do you like that rap music or something? Like, oh my God. And so I don't have any room for that. I don't need the racial element in my thing. I don't need my friends to ask questions or passersby or people to make assumptions about me. Yeah, but don't you think? I mean, I feel like that's kind of like what the movie is trying to say though, albeit not in the most effective way. It's like, what if it wasn't like that? If it wasn't like that, just like how much more accessible in trying to make human connections with anyone would it be for you? It would be wonderful. It would be, wouldn't it? It would be. All I'm really concerned with with people is up here. But they're thinking, first of all, if they're polite, but if they're intellectually intact, they can have a reasonable conversation with you. And there's nothing, another thing that I don't like about this, living in California with all the races and everything is I like to engage people and I like to make jokes. And somebody does something and, somebody does something that's funny and you turn to the person next to you and go, hey, how did you see that? Or whatever it is. And they don't speak your language. It makes me mad. I'm like, I can't even tell you a joke. I shouldn't be able to tell everybody a joke. Anyway, I enjoyed the movie. I'm just a mindless, in a mindless way. Yeah, I agree. What you said, there was no music. There was no cinematography. There was no, there was nothing imaginative. It's not artistic in any way. It's just a photograph of what's happening. It was almost like a documentary. Well, although it's not, it was way better than any documentary. I'm sorry I said that. The producers of this thing, way better than any documentary. What's your rating then? My rating is meh. Meh? Yeah. Meh out of 10. It was a movie. I'll give it a five. Okay. I'm in the middle. Yeah, I definitely agree. It's like, it's not, it struggles between being just like a very generic rom-com or like any sort of deeper analysis or satire or commentary at all about these issues and stuff like that. There's no super incredible, outstanding acting performances. There's nothing, there's nothing really, this is a very safe movie. Like, yes. No big social commentary. It kind of wants to draw you in with like, ooh, this is like a spicy topic and stuff like that. But it's really handled in a way where it's super generic and just kind of shallow. But ultimately it's fun. It's a fun to watch movie. There were fun moments. Yeah, there was fun moments. It's funny and stuff like that. But you know, I'll give it a six out of 10. Cause I, you know, I enjoy a good rom-com and stuff like that. Yeah. I find most of them to be crap, but every once in a while there's a good one. But anyway, all right. Well, once again, we're pretty close to in agreement and for The Real Generation Gap, that's saying something, right? You would think there'd be more conflict. Yeah. You know, but you're not one of those. So it doesn't turn out that way. Thank you for watching this episode of The Real Generation Gap and make sure to talk to us down there in the comments below. Let us know what movie you want us to watch next and let us know what you thought of this movie. Do you think that it handled the subject matter well or do you think that it was just very, you know, bland, not very good. Make sure to let us know. And you know, once again, thank you for watching and make sure to join us on the next one. Goodbye.