You Do You Plot Summary
Our protagonist here is 24 year old Merve. She’s a wild-child; a lay-about who doesn’t have a job, has big ideas about the world and laments her mother for not being strong enough to divorce her father. She hates capitalism and wants to “stick it to the man”. She also has big dreams of becoming a fashion icon, while simultaneously admitting she doesn’t really want to work all that hard. Oh, and she’s also building up her social media profile too.
When her mother receives an eviction notice, Merve’s world comes to an end because she’s going to have to go and get a job. Oh, the humanity! After turning her nose up at various different entry-level positions, she ends up in a chance encounter with big-time hotshot Anil Gürman, a businessman who owns his own company and seems to have a thing for Merve.
Merve pitches an idea for a new app called Soulmates with her friends, and Anil agrees to take them under his wing. As for Merve, she’s promoted to working for the fashion company itself. Only, Anil has his own plans to ice her out, owing to a dark past. How will he keep his emotions in check? And will a forbidden romance blossom?
What was Anil’s claim to fame?
Anil is a start-up guru and basically a modified version of an angel investor. He founded WhatIsThis, an e-commerce platform which he sold back to China. He’s beyond loaded and Merve sees an opportunity to pitch her idea for a dating app called Soulmates, where nobody can see each other’s faces. Nil is with her and believes it’s a good idea too.
Anil knows who Merve is though and bumps into her in the coffee shop. She spills coffee on herself and manages to turn it into camouflaged pants. At this point, Merve has no idea who he is, but as the group begin pitching to him, Merve realizes he’s the big boss and stumbles over her words a little.
Anil surprisingly accepts their pitch but wants 50% of the shares. He’s even going to cover the finances as they come up with a Beta version of the app. But in reality, it turns out Anil actually hates the idea and is messing with them. And as for Merve, he offers her a job to work at WhatIsThis. He wants to punish her to the limits and make her run out the company crying; he tells Seza, one of the workers, to make her become a servant.
Does Merve work hard?
As the days tick by, Merve starts to work a bit harder but she does continue to slack off and snap pictures of herself on occasion. Anil is not happy that she’s starting to come into her own and contemplates firing her. But then he also likes her too.
Using the Soulmates app, Merve and her boss, Anil, start to grow closer together. They head to the big Soulmates meet-up, but when they have to remove their masks and show each other their faces, Anil gets cold feet and heads to the bar. His investors are there, watching all of this transpire and also wearing masks of their own. Merve doesn’t clock that Anil’s wearing the exact same clothes as her “soulmate” and the pair end their conversation.
Nevra speaks to her ex husband, who admits that he’s sold the apartment to an unknown buyer (who’s actually Anil) as they needed the cash. Nevra decides she’s going to divorce her husband after all, given how much time has passed, and that concludes one of the longer subplots running through this movie. However, it comes at the worst time, given the landlord wants them to leave in less than 30 days.
Why does Anil not like Merve and her mother?
In the midst of this, a big storm at work causes Anil and Merve to be stuck in the lift together. Their chemistry starts to crackle, and outside in the rain, the pair end up kissing. Merve eventually leaves, but Nevra happens to be watching all of this unfold. She meets with Anil in the basement car park and points out that she’s going to pay for what’s happened in the past.
Anil believes Nevra was responsible for his life being upended and being kicked out on the street. Apparently Anil’s dad was running an illegal export ring, so Nevra shrugs off the threats, claiming she was just doing her job. Nevra bought the building to help Anil’s mum pay back her debts – and she even has the records to prove as much.
Anil believes his father was seduced but Nevra has love letters to prove that’s not the case and that he was in love with her. As they part ways, Nevra demands that he stay out of Merve’s life.
Why does Anil distance himself from Merve?
That night, the Wolf messages Merve and shows himself to be Anil. He admits he’s been following her for a while and knows that this is her favourite spot. Merve interprets his stalking as romantic and the pair kiss. Anil though gets cold feet again and decides he can’t do this anymore and walks away.
Merve ends up fired in the morning, and her friends learn that the app is also finished too. Anil has decided to turn it into a paid subscription and they lose everything and everyone. Merve is unhappy and even more so when she heads home. Her mother points out that Anil is the one who bought the building from them.
In the morning, Nevra decides to do a 180 and help her daughter after all. She’s noticed her social media is blowing up and she needs to be part of the big fashion competition coming up. They all work together to create some great outfits, with Merve showing off her entire collection with the help of her mum and all the neighbours. She gets a standing ovation and everything seems to go well.
Anil does some soul-searching in the wake of this, heading off to spend time with monks in one of the better comedic moments of the movie. Getting some advice from the monk there, he decides to face his fears and admit the truth to Merve. Anil has had a change of heart and decides to let Merve and her mum stay after all. What about their rent they’re behind on? Well, that doesn’t matter.
How does You Do You end?
Nil shocks Anil that night when he shows up, looking for Merve but finding Merve’s friend in a big bear costume ready to scare him. In a scene similar to that of what happened with Merve earlier on in the movie, he ends up getting an electric shock.
Down on his knees and recovering from the shock, he begs Merve for help. He apologizes to her as he was blinded by revenge and took it out on her. But meeting Merve confused him and he wants to be there for her now. He calls her strong and wants her to see his true face. She decides to give him another chance and Merve doubles down on her fashion gig, which seems to be taking off now.
In the end Merve gets what she wants and doesn’t really have to work all that hard for it. Sure, she did pull her weight at the company but it was her social media gig and Anil’s romance (not to mention his money) that did the trick in the end to help her career take off.
Read More: You Do You Movie Review