REVIEW: ‘You Do You’ Won’t Make Waves

Being yourself and staying the course is something to be admired, especially in our capitalist world. Sticking to your dreams and succeeding? Even better. Throw in romance, a desperate financial situation, and more, and you have the general premise of You Do You. The latest Turkish romantic comedy to grace Netflix’s service has arrived, but, unfortunately, it fails to make waves in a sea of rom-coms and is likely to get lost in the shuffle.

Directed by Cemal Alpan and written by Ceylan Naz Baycan, You Do You stars Ahsen Eroglu, Ozan Dolunay, and Zuhal Olcay. The film follows Merve Kült (Ahsen Eroglu), a young woman in her 20s pursuing her dream – to become a fashion designer. However, her luck is about to run out. Unemployed and living with her retired mother, Merve doesn’t want to work. She wants to focus on fashion. This struggle comes to a head when a mysterious buyer purchases the building she lives in.

The pressure is on, with the threat of eviction hanging over her head. With her friends, she brainstorms a potential dating start-up idea using masks to help people find their soulmates. Good in theory but a little weird and impractical in execution. A chance encounter with a rude man leads to embarrassment when she comes face to face with him at the pitch for the app. The thing that she doesn’t realize is that this man, Anil Gürman (Ozan Dolunay), has been watching Merve for quite some time. Why? If you guessed revenge, you’d be correct.

Without revealing anything further, viewers will likely be able to predict where the film goes. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Predictability can lead to comfort food viewing, especially in the romance genre. However, a lack of development in both storylines and characters makes it difficult for this rom-com to stand out.

You Do You can be easily categorized as a standard romantic comedy. It’s not pushing the envelope with its storytelling. It will remind of The Devil Wears Prada or even Confessions of a Shopaholic in its focus on fashion and memorable female leads. While the character’s personality may not be everyone’s cup of tea, Eroglu is incredibly likable. She injects Merve Kült with charisma and charm that helps to soften the character’s immaturity and naivety.

Arguably, if You Do You had stripped the romantic element from the storyline, the film would have worked better as a fully committed coming-of-age story surrounding Merve Kült. Her passion for fashion, design, and styling outfits is palpable. Even though she lacks social graces and experience, you can tell she is determined to achieve the impossible no matter what obstacles get thrown at her. Of the characters onscreen, Merve was the most fully realized, and Eroglu’s approach to the character helped bring her to life.

Outside the fashions and the high-energy bubbling from Merve, You Do You lacks punch. Our central romantic duo is missing chemistry that is easier to find in its supporting cast. Following that by the lack of overall believable character development from the otherwise bland Anil, this romance is a bust. This is such a shame because there are story point elements that are introduced for Anil’s character that, in execution, read as tacked on. His childhood trauma of being kicked out of his family home? The death of his father? His need for revenge? All of these elements could have been expanded further to give further depth. Unfortunately, it’s all surface-level and distracts more than adds to the story.

The same can be said for the wolf symbolism attached to Anil throughout the film. More could have been injected into Dolunay’s performance that brought out more wolf-like characteristics. Especially with the addition of the mask when he starts using the dating app to get to know Merve. There was a lot of potential, but it regrettably wasn’t explored.

As a standard rom-com, You Do You is okay. It checks off the standard formulaic boxes that keep things predictable and easy. The pacing is good. There are no awkward lulls. So, for someone who needs an easy escape, the film will do just fine. However, if you’re looking for something memorable that will linger after viewing, You Do You likely isn’t it, even with Ahsen Eroglu’s stellar performance.

With underdeveloped characters, a barely tingly romance, and plot points barely expanded on, You Do You rides hard on the good graces of a well-trod formula. As a result, everything but Merve fades into the background, including her romantic lead.

You Do You is now streaming on Netflix.