Unlike Mrs. Doubtfire, Yu Seon-dong's sweet-natured Mr. Housewife knows that a man doesn't need to don a dress to understand the worth of taking care of a child, cooking meals, cleaning an apartment, et cetera. Jin-man (Han Suk-kyu), the man in the apron and at the stove, takes personal pride in caring for his wife Soo-hee (Shin Eun-Kyung) and daughter Da-na (Seo Shin-ae), even as he hides his role from his conservative father. Yet this hiding-in-plain-sight act is about to end when daycare daddy ends up in debt and see his one viable way out as a game show for stay-at-home moms — a program where his talent agent buddy (Kong Hyeong-jin) happens to have some connections. A master of trivia, Jin-man dolls up in drag to qualify as a contestant then rips off his wig after getting goosed in the elevator. Whether skirted or pantsed, he's going to meet with resistors and champions.
Mr. Housewife's wife, however, is on the less-than-thrilled side. She fears his newfound celebrity as a spokesperson from stay-at-home dads as a potential derailer for her new gig as a TV host, leading her to rent a hotel room to figure out ... HER NEEDS! Sympathetic, she's not. That coldness is why Mr. Doubtfire never emerges as an outright rom-com. By the time Jin-man re-proposes to Soo-yi on live television in the game show's finale, she's rebuffed him so often that we kind of wish that he'd find someone else. But perhaps Yu's film is ultimately about second chances. Early in the film, Jin-man gambled away a family fortune, without consulting his better half, so if she can let that go, then maybe we should cut her some slack as well.
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