It’s often a relationship killer: that first big weekend getaway. Safe in the cocoon of those early days of exciting sex and the pleasure of getting to know someone, a new couple can naively believe their romantic, carnal bliss might last forever. But going out of town together can profoundly alter that delicate chemistry, pulling lovebirds out of their shared fantasy and thrusting them into the chaos and mundanity of real life. Suddenly, you’re no longer swept away by carefree screwing and easy conversation—now, everything feels much more concrete and scary. Writer-director Sophie Brooks’ second feature pounces on that anxiety to deliver a dark comedy whose risky tonal shifts don’t ultimately cohere. Still, Oh, Hi! is an ambitious, thought-provoking look at modern romance that starts with the terror of weekend getaways before dissecting the gender stereotypes that keep people from finding their happily-ever-after.
Molly Gordon plays Iris, a New Yorker who’s been dating Isaac (Logan Lerman) for four wonderful months. As Oh, Hi! begins, they’re driving upstate, cheerfully singing along with Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s “Islands In The Stream.” It’s the kind of intentionally predictable opening—the impossibly loving couple, the cheesy-great song, a car zooming through the middle of woodsy nowhere—that sounds like the setup for a horror film, one in which Iris learns that her perfect boyfriend is secretly a monster. Oh, Hi! is not a slasher flick, but she’s in for a shock nonetheless.
Brooks, who previously made another thorny romance, 2017’s The Boy Downstairs, gives her audience reasons to be suspicious of Isaac. When Iris and Isaac stop at a local strawberry stand, he’s a little too flirty with the cute seller (Diana Irvine). When Isaac’s mom calls his cellphone, he laughs at something she says but won’t share it with Iris, insisting it’s an “inside joke.” But Lerman conveys such warmth that Iris tries to brush off her wariness. She’s probably just imagining things.
Later that night, after a romantic dinner he’s cooked for her, Iris grills Isaac about past relationships, only to end up admitting that a former long-term boyfriend broke her heart. The betrayal was so bad, she says, she thought about stabbing the guy, and the conviction in her face makes Iris, for the first time, seem frightening. But Gordon possesses such sweetness that Isaac tries to brush off his wariness. He’s probably just imagining things.
Oh, Hi! starts off as a sexy, smart rom-com, featuring plenty of frank, funny dialogue about compatibility, kinks, and emotional intimacy. But the audience knows that, eventually, that dreamy, initial elation will evaporate—for Iris, the bubble bursts in surprising fashion. Discovering that their rental contains a closet with BDSM gear, they decide to experiment, with Iris chaining Isaac’s hands and feet to the bed, leading to hot sex. But afterward, she realizes that the two of them have different views of their relationship: She thinks they’re serious; he has no interest in being part of a couple. (In fact, he’s sleeping with other women.) Angry and hurt, Iris freaks out, refusing to release him from his shackles. She’s convinced she can make Isaac stay with her, both literally and metaphorically.
From there, Brooks (who came up with the story with Gordon) attempts something rather daring, forcing the viewer to confront one of popular culture’s most ubiquitous and stereotypical characters: the crazy ex-girlfriend. Iris quickly grows more manic and obsessive, feverishly looking online for advice on how to keep a guy. The sensible, funny woman from the opening is gone, replaced by a needy, pathetic creature who won’t let Isaac leave. Gordon sharply adjusts her performance, exuding none of the confidence or sunniness that Iris once radiated. Isaac is fearful of what she might do, and so are we.
But Oh, Hi! isn’t Misery, presenting the audience with a clichéd scorned woman but then interrogating the trope. Soon, it becomes clear that Gordon isn’t really playing a “crazy ex-girlfriend” as much as she’s tapping into the sexist cliché. It’s a gutsy performance that takes on the odious notion of the “likeable” female character, the actress knowingly going to extremes while also winkingly acknowledging that such hysteria is always a possibility when your seemingly flawless relationship goes kerplunk.
In some ways, Lerman’s role is just as tricky. He’s portraying another familiar type: the asshole boyfriend who won’t commit and leads his girlfriend on. (Intriguingly, though, Isaac didn’t know that he was leading her on—he thought Iris felt the same about their arrangement.) Lerman brings some nice shading to a guy who might be a fuckboy—or, actually, more of a softboy—but doesn’t like being accused of jerk behavior when he didn’t intend to hurt her. Like Gordon’s nervy turn, his performance parries and thrusts with the conventions of modern dating as they are unimaginatively depicted in movies and television shows. Iris and Isaac are meant to be real people who find themselves unwittingly pigeonholed by rom-com attitudes about each gender.
Unfortunately, for all of Oh, Hi!‘s potentially engaging themes—as well as an inspired running joke about José Saramago’s acclaimed novel Blindness—the film can’t quite sell its bold plot twist. Once Iris chooses to keep Isaac trapped in bed until he changes his mind—causing him to threaten to have her arrested for kidnapping—the movie consistently courts implausibility. Desperate to fix the legal mess she’s created for herself, Iris recruits her best friend Max (Geraldine Viswanathan) and Max’s beta-male boyfriend Kenny (John Reynolds) to come to the house to help her figure out what to do. (At one point, they even debate the pros and cons of killing Isaac.) Viswanathan and Reynolds are plenty amusing, but Brooks has trouble navigating the comedic tone once more serious stakes are introduced. The film inevitably gets darker, but the slight characters can’t survive the graver mood.
Not unlike 2023’s Cat Person, Oh, Hi! channels something elemental about dating at a time when the internet connects us all, yet leaves us feeling terribly alone. Brooks mocks modern love’s paranoia, resentment and despair, not to mention the way popular entertainment warps our impressions of the opposite sex. Oh, Hi! may be uneven, but its core points are true, recognizing how the lovelorn are often chained to lives that leave them worrying that they’re either crazy or an asshole.
Director: Sophie Brooks
Writers: Sophie Brooks
Starring: Molly Gordon, Logan Lerman, Geraldine Viswanathan, John Reynolds
Release Date: July 25, 2025
