You People, which began streaming on Netflix on January 27, has a screenplay co-written by Hill and Kenya Barris, creator of the award-winning television series Black-ish, and a star-studded cast that also includes Nia Long and David Duchovny along with many celebrity cameos. Additionally, Barris directs and with such a stacked cast and established team behind the production, all of the ingredients are present for some outrageous comedy and biting social commentary. And while the dialogue is often clever and amusing, it is seldomly laugh out loud funny, and cultural themes are mostly superficially addressed.

As Ezra and his podcast partner Mo (Sam Jay) riff on his inability to maintain a healthy romantic relationship with multiple references to Drake, the resulting rapid-fire dialogue is mildly comical and charming but isn’t as funny or daring as I would have expected it to be. When Eddie Murphy first appears on screen as the serious and non-nonsense Akbar, his severe demeanor and swagger are palpable. But what seems so promising at first soon blends into the rest of the film and its predictable jokes and slightly cringey scenes that don’t quite seem to go far enough to make them uproariously funny or make any astute societal observations.

Nonetheless, Murphy is charismatic, and his intense energy is fascinating to watch even if his character doesn’t have all that much to do in the film. And yet he still manages to make Akbar both relatable and sympathetic. London and Hill are likable as the leads but they too aren’t given much to work with to develop their characters. The onscreen chemistry between them never really goes anywhere even as we watch their relationship develop and deepen. Much the same can be said of the other characters, but with such an excellent cast, the film is buoyed by their performances even if it plays it relatively safe and results in a pretty standard romantic comedy with relatively few truly funny moments.

The cast may be loaded, but so too is the highly engaging music soundtrack presented in Dolby Atmos with fantastic songs from the late Nipsey Hussle, James Brown, Ice-T, DJ Khaled, and Barry White, just to name a few. The music is marvelously integrated into the overall sound design with many scenes introduced by a fabulous flourish of hip hop jams. The songs feature a truly immersive object-based mix to provide a wonderfully wide and spacious sound with plenty of deep bass. From the opening scenes featuring “Chitty Bang” by Leikeli47, the music surrounded and enveloped me in scene after scene with an infectious beat. And when things slowed down during Amira and Ezra’s first date, Brittany Howard’s silky smooth “Stay High” was smoothly and coherently mixed into all channels to deliver a truly enveloping and dreamy effect.

Picture quality was nearly as impressive as the audio. The clothing and furnishings in the backgrounds of the many upscale shops Ezra and Amira visit look totally realistic, with each carefully crafted scene filled with a plethora of pleasing colors. Fashion lovers will appreciate the extensive use of contemporary clothing and sneakers utilized by costume designer Michelle R. Cole. The exquisitely detailed stitching and the beautiful pink, blue, and yellow pastel shades of corduroy looked absolutely perfect with a Dolby Vision color grade that brought out the subtle differences in the soft pale hues. Colors did pop when required as with a Southwest airlines plane, whose deep-blue fuselage looked absolutely gorgeous in a sharply detailed establishing shot.

The slick-looking visuals and excellent sound design of You People were a pleasant surprise from this rom-com but considering the film’s promising pedigree, I was disappointed in its formulaic plot and lack of cutting-edge comedy.