Molly Gordon plays Iris and Logan Lerman is Isaac in romantic comedy ‘Oh, Hi!’Sony Pictures Classics
Oh, Hi!
Directed by Sophie Brooks
Written by Sophie Brooks, Molly Gordon
Starring Molly Gordon, Logan Lerman
Classification R; 93 minutes
Oh, Hi! is what might actually happen if your approach to true love was tinted with Misery.
After four perfect months together, Iris (Molly Gordon) and Isaac (Logan Lerman) embark on a relationship milestone and flee the big city to spend a romantic weekend at a rented farmhouse in upstate New York.
Obviously, they’re cute. They’re happy. Isaac cooks scallops. Their banter is healthy, their sex life is fun. The two resemble a photo spread from a J. Crew catalogue at its peak: beautiful and tousled and unbothered by mosquitos at night. This is what it looks like when you’ve found your soulmate.
Positioned as a romantic comedy, Oh, Hi! is less Nora Ephron than I Think You Should LeaveSony Pictures Classics
At least that’s what Iris thinks.
Choosing the worst possible time, Isaac informs her that they’re not exclusive. He doesn’t want a relationship, and up until that point he didn’t think they were serious. Iris, heartbroken, responds the way anybody would if they’d attended the school of Annie Wilkes.
She holds Isaac captive in an attempt to convince him that he’s actually in love.
Positioned as a romantic comedy, Oh, Hi! is less Nora Ephron than I Think You Should Leave. Bizarre and deranged, its characters are chaotic, narcissistic and profoundly unwell. In fact, they’re both terrifying: Iris is what happens when you apply fictionalized grand “romantic” gestures to real-world situations, and Isaac seemingly lives by the ethos of a Weeknd song.
Yet the film still works. Directed by Sophie Brooks and co-written by Gordon, it subverts both the rom-com and horror genres to produce an original story that thwarts predictability. Gordon is sharp, funny and brings just enough humanity to Iris that you feel sorry for her broken heart and terrible judgment – despite desperately hoping that you never meet her in real life.
David Cross plays Steve in the movie, which subverts both the rom-com and horror genres to produce an original story.Sony Pictures Classics
It also helps that she’s aided by comedy gold: Geraldine Viswanathan and John Reynolds show up just in time to add levity and fresh perspectives to a premise that could easily get stale. Especially since Lerman plays an everyman whose sole personality is “totally perfect, until not.”
Is any of it believable? Relatable? Does it need to be? Hardly a Hallmark film, Oh, Hi! is a testimony to what happens when we pour creative energy into original storylines instead of the dark abyss of reboot culture. By blending romance and horror tropes, Brooks and Gordon highlight the ridiculousness that defines each and illuminate the toxicity sensationalized by the classics. (There’s more than one Casablanca call-out involved.) The story isn’t aspirational and its characters are mostly irredeemable, but it exposes the outlandish nature of most rom-com plot devices by committing to the most common: two characters who suck.
Oh, Hi! is the last love story you want to cite when writing your own, and Iris and Isaac are the last people you would ever want to spend a weekend away with. But for 90 minutes in a movie theatre? Their company will at least keep your attention.