New York magazine, riffing on Drew Barrymore‘s starring role in the film adaptation of He’s Just Not That Into You, suggests 10 other self-help books that should be Barrymore vehicles, including Freakonomics:
Drew Barrymore stars as a free-spirited Northwestern economics grad student who ventures into the Cabrini Green projects on the south side of Chicago to research the lives of drug dealers. Along the way, she finds herself drawn to a dashing young man (Tristan Wilds, The Wire) who yearns to escape the lifestyle and move with her to the suburbs of Evanston. The two quickly begin falling for each other, but one thing stands in the way of their blossoming romance: the fact that he still lives with his hilariously outspoken mother (Martin Lawrence).
Not bad, but why Northwestern? Is the University of Chicago just too eggheady? Anyway, we bet you could think of a few other storylines from the book that Barrymore might fit. For instance:
Drew Barrymore as the girlfriend of the last honest sumo wrestler (Masi Oka, Heroes), who puts it all on the line when he’s asked to rig a match to help his sumo-wrestling best friend (John Cho, Harold & Kumar)?
Drew Barrymore stars as a girl named Loser, whose romantically frustrated sister and Realtor, Winner (Katherine Marie Heigl, Gray’s Anatomy), becomes jealous when Loser finds the man of her dreams (Matthew McConaughey)?
BTW: If Freakonomics is a “self-help” book, then the Bible is a how-to.
and 
. You can also watch it on 
Let’s see… not five minutes ago I was reading pp214-217 and thinking that perhaps Robert’s olive-oil trick might work for me in conjunction with other diet and exercise that my own self-experimentation has shown to work.
That’s self-help, right there.
I suppose it’s now time to open the Bible again. There’s lots of “how” I need some “to” for.
“Drew Barrymore stars as a free-spirited Northwestern economics grad student….”
I couldn’t get past this line. It’s just too funny.
1) Yes, U of C is too “eggheady”. Additionally, I have never seen an even marginally attractive economics grad student in Hyde Park.
2) This description has taught me that Evanston has “suburbs”. Who knew?
3) How does something like this get funding? Can my partially completed screenplay be posted as collateral with the Federal Reserve?
Could be because Northwestern is on the North side, providing for some more significant contrasts relative to what U of C could provide. The neighborhood around NU is very different than that around University of Chicago.
Btw, the reason they would pick Northwestern instead of Chicago is that the masses of movie people who went to Northwestern have made it Hollywood’s go-to university.
Also, Cabrini Green is on the North Side of Chicago.
Have you ever read or see teh play Top Dog/Under Dog? The two characters are brothers named Lincoln and Booth….interesting play, I think you’d like it.
It’s self-help on how to think like a smart person?
To think: they could have made a plot with Joliet Junior College and the free spirited design student at the stateville prisoner’s tailoring program. (historically) Especially since being poor is kinda in, well if you aren’t an “elitist”. Heck they could have ended up in Naperville shopping in a Bolingbrook IKEA.