One of the most frustrating things about the majority of Netflix’s high-profile original output is that the vast majority follows the exact same formula, with You People the latest – but by no means the last – to blaze a familiar trail.
The streaming service forks over a hefty amount of cash to a talented crew of filmmakers, creatives, and cast members, gives them the freedom to deliver the movie they want, and then sits idly by while it gets widely panned by critics. Even with the names involved, You People is nothing but another star-studded exercise in mediocrity.
You’d have thought the combination of director Kenya Barris, co-writer and star Jonah Hill, Eddie Murphy, Nia Long, David Duchovny, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lauren London, and more would be able to deliver a sharp and incisive comedy with plenty to say, especially when the story largely revolves around familial and societal dynamics.
Instead, You People has been greeted with a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 46 percent, and even the more forgiving user rating is barely higher at a middling 49 percent. And yet, because we’re dealing with big names on a major platform, the film has inevitably soared right to the top of the global most-watched charts.
Per FlixPatrol, You People has instantly become the number one top-viewed feature in 51 countries since debuting yesterday, while it’s cracked the Top 10 in 81 nations in total. Those are the sort of numbers we expect from a Netflix exclusive, but we’d much prefer it were the quality of the end product capable of matching the data on a more regular basis.
