You People

  Sure, you can — as many have — complain about the parade of racial stereotypes in this satire of racial stereotypy. But that’s the territory. You could instead enjoy the pungency of their deployment. That’s more fun. 

Jonah Hill’s tour de force is a witty look at the predictable complications when a fumbling Jewish boy and an independent Black girl fall in love and decide to wed. 

The couple’s respective parents’ responses expose the obvious racial fissure. Amira’s father Akbar (born a Woody!) is the more militant opponent, though his strategy is a cold, intimidating detachment. Ezra’s mother Shelley urgently wants to connect but can only speak in racial stereotypes. These antithetical impulses combine to freeze the young couple out of their ardor.

Of its many virtues the comic energy is primary. The opening scenes have hilarious dialogue not just along religious lines but in the current jargon of mod-tech communication. Cameos by Rhea Perlman, Elliott Gould and Richard Benjamin evoke the tradition of Jewish-American film satire. As if to break out of the Jewish stereotype Ezra excels in the Black street basketball game. Eddie Murphy’s straight man extends his own persona history.

Perhaps the most interesting character is Ezra’s podcast partner Mo. They are a non-binary Black who quietly asserts a wisdom, balance and presence without making themself the issue that the Black and Jewish characters provide. Mo deserves their own film, for which this more traditional foray may prepare the way.

I initially recoiled at the overly sentimental eruption in the last scene. Its unreality jarred with the film’s candour and insight. Perhaps that’s the point. The parents’ respective conversions — necessary for any degree of happy ending — may work in the film but may be too much to expect in real life. So that exuberant last scene may suggest a fantasy element in their conversion. On the other hand, we do have the lovely Lauren London, the Ashkenazi Jew playing the Black bride. There is hope.