to pull a Hancock

To achieve vastly beyond one's abilities; seemingly without logical explanation.

Named after Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in the UK, who has managed to achieve high office without any discernible talent, an alleged long-term affair with someone way out of his league, and an ally in the Prime Minister despite being woefully unprepared for a pandemic that led to a tragically high mortality rate.

"There's no chance I won't be arrested after committing all of these crimes. To get out of this, I need to pull a Hancock."

"I just got promoted three times in one day despite sexually harassing a colleague. I must have pulled a Hancock."

"The Government knighted me even though I'm being investigated for fraud. Is it because I'm a Tory donor or did I just pull a Hancock?"

pulled a Hancock

This phrase originated when my daughter an I saw the movie Hancock starring Will Smith. The movie is progressing nicely, and inspiring great laughs, when all-of-a-sudden like, the movie goes sideways and there's Egyptian gods and dichotomous entities and other crazy crap.

Thus was coined, the phrase, "...pulled a Hancock"

Which essentially means that everything was great until the writers and/or directors went bat-crap-crazy and sent the story sideways into ludicrous land.

The point in the movie Hancock when Charlize Theron is suddenly some kind of Egyptian god bound to Hancock - this is the point when the story "pulled a Hancock" - and sends him flying out the house (flying as in flung, not of his own volition).

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