For me if you are going to centre your feature film’s comedic value around racism it has to be delivered elegantly. Some will say black people are not capable of racism, in this movie they pushed for it…
We follow Ezra, a young hip Jewish kid who falls in love with a black woman with a tyrant of a dad who refuses to give his blessing because he’s outright racist. We follow a story of a white kid doing all kinds of lovely deeds for his girlfriends family and the only reason they are against it is for simply skin colour… then you have the white family who’s profound ignorance isn’t intentional but rather a misguided approach of trying their utmost best to make the black woman feel welcome… well that’s what I got from the movie. Convulated much? However this is from the great mind of Kenya Barris so if I had to guess I’m sure there are some smart messages in there with this twist of position and narrative. I missed them all, too much going on here.
Jonah is one of the greats. Owns every role I’ve seen him in and is a master of screen time. Remember this is someone that went toe to toe with Leonardo Di Caprio on screen. Lauren who has been off screen for sometime came in with a good performance. It’s good to see her back in her acting bag and hope to see more of her. These 2 together? Never again please. Zero chemistry in displaying both romance and comedy. I was left confused with the excessive use of CGI in such a basic movie. It gave “we can’t be bothered to go to locations” vibes. There are talks of the alleged CGI kiss which are circulating and yes I can believe it because the disconnect as a couple was evident so I can’t picture these 2 connecting lips. Movie then plays like a stage giving cameos to all sorts of legends. You see Elliot Gould famously known for playing Ross’ dad from Friends, David Duchovny from X Files, Nia Long from Fresh Prince and the one and only Eddie Murphy. It’s good to see Eddie on screen again also. However his performance? Close to terrible mainly due to him visibly looking like he didn’t even want to be set. Very unbothered, one layered and stale. Appearing next to the stunning Nia Long and yet still coming across as distant cousins on screen, just zero romantic chemistry. Atrocious display here.
On paper you look at that cast and think this is going to be lit, it wasn’t.
I have seen Key and Peele sketches with more depth than this film. The writing is poor alongside the dialogue. It’s just a coalescence of stereotypes and dull racist jokes. It’s painful to watch so much that you question if it was by design? The unnecessary aggression towards races is just so forced and it doesn’t work. The whole “woke” theme in movies is not an easy feat to execute. It’s funny because Kenya does it perfectly for Black-ish but fails miserably here.
This is a movie you won’t find mixed reviews on. You will find words like cringe, poor, stinker, annoying, etc associated with this film. Netflix need to look into who is green lighting these type of movies. This is to be avoided by all means… KenKen did YOU a favour here by watching it, you’re welcome.
Did you manage to sit through all of it? Name me one good joke you heard here? Who wants to see Lauren’s dimple get their own movie over this? React and comment below…
So forced and awkward, waste of my time.
Agreed! Lauren London and Jonah Hill just felt uncomfortable to me. I wasn’t getting the sense that they had any sort chemistry so their relationship and the movie storyline wasn’t believable at all.
The movie had some funny moments and I really wanted to like it. But it felt like a waste of time for me.
The film was cool. You could see what it was doing by incorporating the various talking points that’s been said over the years between Black and Jewish Americans.
I really liked it. Yes Lauren and Jonah looked uncomfortable on screen. However it was good to see her back to making movies.
This movie fell and felt way short of the expectations set by the trailer. It was disappointing on every level. It felt like a cameo reel. Jonah Hill is a very good actor and very much carried this movie from start to finish but everyone else seems to be a constellation around him. Star studded line up with nothing to do.
I’d give it a 2/5
Damn Unc, I actually liked it. Especially the dinner table scene, where they deliberated about the first enslaved people.
Spot on. Tbh i think kenya is a tad too obsessed with race relations. Even in Black’ish i found some of the content to be a lil too beggy. This movie just seemed to be 1.5 hours of him trying to cram in as many stereotypes and forced views/behaviours as possible. It was a poor man’s Guess Who? #RIPKingBernie (go watch Guess Who? if you are unfamiliar…. you won’t be disappointed)
Lauren London aside.. I enjoyed the film. Jonah Hill and Eddie… who would have guessed?! I’d like to see more of those two. 👀
It looked shocking from the trailer so I left it alone. Sounds like I made a good call.
I liked it but was obvious what was gonna happen from start Eddie doing what he does best serious but funny without thay silly laugh, but this film also sends a good message as to what the parents are doing to the children the impact it has on them
Atrocious.
I literally lost concentration after the first couple of scenes whilst TRYING hard to enjoy the movie as the trailer, for me, made it seem like it was going to be extremely funny and entertaining-also with the stars in the cast.
Ken your review is SPOT ON.
People expect too much from films…
yeah there were some glaring flaws, but on balance I enjoyed it.
The biggest problem in this film for me was THE ACTORS… all of them (ok maybe barring Jonah)
Most felt like they were all acting out scenes in isolation – then it was all edited together like they were in the same room.
If this film was made with a bunch of emerging actors and then it would not have had the level of expectation and eventual critiscism its carrying.
Remarkably mediocre film, honest truth. Big up the nipsey homage that was paid. And Lauren London shining and looking healthy!