'You People,' a Kenya Barris directed feature film, is a romantic comedy about Ezra Cohen (Jonah Hill), a white Jewish man, and Amira Mohammed (Lauren London), a black Muslim woman. As a result of their families, their lives become much more complicated than they anticipated.
'You People' explores themes like race, romance, and family outside of the leads. We've got you covered.
Is Your Life a True Story?
'You People' isn't based on a true story, although it is embedded with facts. Barris told Complex that he's been there with Hill since the beginning. He's a funny guy who's been through many stages of his life. And we've just tried to create something that feels new and fresh and that speaks to more where we want to be.'
Barris told The Hollywood Reporter that he had been a fan of Hill for years. They began texting back and forth about their mutual interest in cinema and the desire to do something together. During this period, Hill was in a relationship with a woman of Cuban nationality, and that played an important role in the development of the script.
Barris responded, "I think one, because I wrote it, you know what I'm saying?" I've felt like the more I've written these, the more I'm like, you know what?"
The first conversation between Ezra and Amira, during which Ezra mistaken Amira for his Uber driver, was inspired by Barris' personal experience. "And I look at my father-in-law, my wife's father, or my kids' mother's father, who is this white guy who's become my father," he said.
Barris said, "And I would've never seen him be who he was." We just looked at so many different versions of our lives and said we wanted to be as honest as possible. I went to the Jay-Z concert years ago and we're singing rap songs, whatever. And they're 60 percent white kids and they're dropping n-bombs and I'm looking every time I know one's coming, and they sort of drop out."
Thematic similarities to 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' (1967) were discussed in the film. Akbar has reservations about the relationship between his daughter and Ezra, while Shelley is against having a black daughter-in-law.
