OH, HI! - Mark Reviews Movies

Oh, Hi!, Sony Pictures Classics

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Review by Mark Dujsik | July 24, 2025

Sure, the reason for the disagreement at of Oh, Hi! is a two-way street, but as for the blame for what actually happens in writer/director Sophie Brooks' movie, that's a one-way road that any rationally thinking person should avoid. It's a good thing for the main character, in other words, that Brooks has made a comedy, because this material played straight would have us wondering how long Iris (Molly Gordon) should be locked up in a prison or a mental health facility.

Since it is played mostly as a joke, the premise of Brooks' story is a bit easier to accept as some reasonable, if ill-formed, satire about the state of modern romantic relationships. Basically, it's the notion that trying to appear to be one way, not really talking about the fundamentals of what each person in a relationship wants, and feeling the age-old pressure that love is the ultimate goal of dating, while also playing it cool so as not to look desperate or needy, could drive anyone "crazy."

That's eventually what happens to Iris, who is on a getaway with her boyfriend Issac (Logan Lerman). The two have been dating for four months, and everything seems fine and happy. The worst that happens for a bit, perhaps, is that Iris thinks she sees an "O" on the sign announcing High Falls before the town's name, and Isaac disagrees, believing that would be silly. Otherwise, they get frisky immediately upon arriving at the house they've rented for the weekend, are so close while swimming in a lake that a neighbor (played by David Cross) believes they're having sex in public, and enjoy some quiet time reading together.

In Iris' mind, this is all "boyfriend" stuff, as is the couple's discovery of some bondage gear and toys in the owner's closet. After the pleasant day together, the two decide to try out the cuffs and chains, and when Iris is too uncomfortable being restrained to the bed, Isaac happily volunteers to be the tied-up one.

From there, Brooks' screenplay requires a bit of generous thinking, because Iris mentions something to Isaac about him being her boyfriend, Isaac disagrees and reveals that he has been having casual sex with other women, and she still hasn't uncuffed him yet during all of this. Isaac should probably have waited a bit, if only because Iris earlier mentioned that she considered stabbing her former boyfriend when he broke up with her seven years together. Sure, one doesn't expect to become an abductee under these circumstances, but Isaac definitely notes the stabbing comment and has some thoughts on the subject as soon as Iris makes it.

The central gag here is a darkly funny one, as long as the filmmakers understand that there's a definite imbalance in what Iris learns about Isaac and how she responds to that information. It's only funny, really, if Iris deciding to keep Isaac chained to the bed until she can convince him to be her boyfriend for real is obviously, absurdly the wrong choice on her part.

For a while, it is that way, and Gordon clearly has fun playing a character too naïve to be a villain, too set in her mind about what she wants to realize she's in the wrong, and too deeply troubled to be wholly unsympathetic. We understand where Iris is coming from, even if her actions are overblown and highly illegal.

It's not just because Brooks' script gives the character a couple of speeches about her motive, her disappointment about being deceived by this guy, and her frustrations about the inherent contradictions of how society and men expect women to behave when it comes to relationships, either. There's something to this, in Gordon's surprisingly nuanced performance and the way the complete imbalance of power dynamics serves as a funhouse-mirror reflection of the problem in Iris' mind.

There could be a lot to explore here, obviously, so it's slightly disappointing that Brooks instead decides to embrace the potential of this setup for farce. Essentially, Iris calls her best friend Max (Geraldine Viswanathan) for some advice on and help with her predicament, and that escalates matters, because now the friend and her loyal boyfriend Kenny (John Reynolds) have become accomplices, there's no way Isaac is going to let this kidnapping slide, and the only practical solutions are untenable in several different ways.

To be fair, that escalation, as well as how the trio of abductors start having a shared delusion of sorts that they might get away with this, is pretty funny at times. The presence of Max and Kenny, of course, gets in the way of whatever the movie might want to explore about the central relationship, but a key to the humor is how Viswanathan and Reynolds serve as a nicely grounded and deadpan complement to Iris' desperation.

Oh, Hi! is a strange, intentionally discomforting comedy, and if the movie had possessed that as its primary or only goal, it might have succeeded as such. Instead, Brooks' aims are higher and believe they have something serious to say about love, commitment, and personal and societal expectations. That, unfortunately, might be the biggest joke of the movie.

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