Oh, Hi! (A PopEntertainment.com Movie Review)

PopEntertainment
Jul 23
3 min read

Updated: Jul 25

OH, HI! (2025)

Starring Molly Gordon, Logan Lerman, Geraldine Viswanathan, John Reynolds, David Cross, Polly Draper, Desmin Borges, Jimmy Gary Jr., Ruben Ortiz, Tabitha Lawing, Diana Irvine, Sabina Friedman-Seitz and the voice of Jessie Nelson.

Screenplay by Sophie Brooks.

Directed by Sophie Brooks.

Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics. 95 minutes. Rated R.

Modern dating can be a real minefield, but even by those standards, Oh, Hi! Is really pushing things. Oh, Hi! Is a romantic comedy that often seems just a hairpin turn away from spiraling out of control into a horror film.

The fact that it never quite does spin out is a testament to the clever, big-hearted but jaded screenplay by writer/director Sophie Brooks (based on a story by Brooks and star Molly Gordon).

The couple in Oh, Hi! are in general not bad people – although they each do some very bad things (especially her). They are just bad for each other.

When we first meet Iris (Gordon) and Isaac (Logan Lerman), they appear to be the perfect couple. They have been together for about four months and are embarking on their first trip together – having rented an Airbnb house out in the country for the weekend. They are smart, funny, beautiful and have bonded over a mutual love for Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.

Their repartee is familiar and comfortable. They share a similar sense of humor and seem to be really smitten with the other. They are all over each other and their chemistry is clicking. They are even open to expanding their sexual horizons when they break into the homeowner’s sex closet and find some handcuffs and chains.

However, when you are in enforced confinement with someone else, that is when you really learn about the other person. And it turns out that they are all wrong for each other. She is neurotic, insecure, needy and a little clingy. He is a player and something of a commitment-phobe.

Which in itself is not the end of the world, but Isaac has the horrible timing (or at least the bad sense) to acknowledge that he is not looking for a serious relationship with Iris in a post-coital haze, while still chained to the bed. Iris, who has been taking this whole relationship thing very seriously, is rather shocked by this revelation.

In a fit of whimsy, or simple wrong-headedness, Iris thinks that she can change his mind and make him grow to appreciate her. To make sure she has the opportunity to do so, she decides not to release him from his bonds, making him literally a captive audience while she proves what a good girlfriend she would be. Hmmm, this couldn’t go wrong, could it?

(Apologies if that seems like a bit of a spoiler, but these plot points are very prominently shown in the coming-attractions trailer for the film, so it’s not like it’s supposed to be a big surprise.)

Of course, holding someone hostage is sort of the very definition of trying too hard – and no surprise, things quickly spiral out of control.

Iris’ best friend (Geraldine Viswanathan) and her boyfriend (John Reynolds) show up to try to diffuse the situation, but Iris is still deluded that perhaps this relationship can be saved while Isaac is threatening to send them to jail. Then Iris freaks out about the idea of getting arrested, and they have to try to figure out a way out of that situation, as well.

It’s an extremely odd situation – stretching rom-com conventions to the breaking points – and yet somehow it mostly works. The ending is a bit of a copout, but the film had sort of painted itself into a corner, and they had to end it somehow.

However, no matter how horrible their decisions may be, you can’t help but like all of the characters – and specifically Iris and Isaac – and you even wish the best for them, even though this is a relationship that undoubtedly cannot be saved.

Jay S. Jacobs