July 23, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Sophie Brooks
Culture Representation: Taking place in upstate New York, the comedy/drama film “Oh, Hi!” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with one multiracial/Asian person and one African American) representing the middle-class.
Culture Clash: During a romantic getaway trip during a weekend, a woman finds out that the man she’s been dating doesn’t want a serious relationship with her, so she ties him to a bed and tells him to give her 12 hours to change his mind.
Culture Audience: “Oh, Hi!” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of stars the movie’s headliners and quirky romantic satires.
“Oh, Hi!” would’ve been better as a short film. However, this dark comedy is an effective satire of desperation to be in a committed love relationship. This movie is a counterpoint to reality dating shows that force happy endings for questionable romances. “Oh, Hi!” isn’t for everyone. It’s the type of movie that people who dislike it will really hate it. It’s not a movie that’s easy to love, but it’s best appreciated by people who are more likely to tolerate or like unconventional dramedies about romance.
Written and directed by Sophie Brooks, “Oh, Hi!” had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and its New York premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Festival. The movie takes place in upstate New York, where “Oh, Hi!” was filmed on location. It’s a movie that could easily have been a play because most of the story takes place at one house and has a very small number of people in the cast.
“Oh, Hi!” begins by showing the two people at the center of the story as they take a romantic getaway trip by car to the lakeside farmhouse that they’ve rented for a three-day weekend. Iris (played by Molly Gordon) and Isaac (played by Logan Lerman), whose occupations aren’t mentioned in the movie, have been dating each other for four months and seem to be very happy together. During the car ride, where they take turns driving, they sing along to “Islands in the Stream,” the 1983 hit duet recorded by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.
On the way to the house, they stop to buy strawberries from an outside stall. The seller is a farm vendor named Syd (played by Diana Irvine), who openly flirts with Issac, who also flirts back. Iris notices this flirtation and looks a little uncomfortable. It’s the first sign that Isaac might not be as enamored with Iris as she is with him. When Isaac drives away, he accidentally knocks over the vendor stand.
At the lake house, things start off very well. Iris and Isaac are sexually intimate, they have fun frolicking in the lake, and they cook meals together. They have playful conversations about a variety of topics.
While Iris and Isaac are swimming and kissing in the lake, they have a tense encounter with a grumpy neighbor named Steve (played by David Cross), who stands at the edge of the lake and scolds them because he thinks they’re having sex in public and tells them it’s illegal. Iris and Isaac deny this false accusation, as Iris points out that she’s wearing a one-piece swimsuit, so it would be hard for them to be having sexual intercourse at that moment. Steve walks away but still acts as if he’s the self-appointed neighborhood watch patrol.
When Isaac and Iris first arrived at the house, they noticed that the bedroom closet had some sex bondage gear, including a bondage outfit and handcuffs. Iris and Isaac decide to try out some of this bondage in their next sexual encounter. Isaac agrees to be have his hands handcuffed to the bed.
After they have sex, Iris tells Isaac: “I didn’t expect things to be this easy. Our first trip as a couple.” Isaac shakes his head as if he can’t believe what he’s hearing. He tells Iris, “I think you’re great. I’m just not looking for a relationship right now.” Isaac quickly finds out that this is not the smartest thing to say to Iris while he’s handcuffed to a bed.
Isaac and Iris then argue about their expectations for the relationship. And it’s obvious there was major miscommunication between them. In a previous conversation that’s not seen in the movie, Iris had told Isaac that she wouldn’t have unprotected sex with him if he was sleeping with other women. Isaac thought Iris meant she wouldn’t have unprotected sex with him if he was having unprotected sex with other women. He didn’t think Iris meant that she expected Isaac to be in an exclusive relationship with Iris.
Iris is reeling from finding out that Isaac doesn’t want the type of relationship with her that she wants to have. She refuses his repeated requests to uncuff him. Instead, Iris leaves the room to call her unnamed divorced mother (played by Polly Draper) to tell her that the man she thought was her exclusive boyfriend doesn’t want to have that type of relationship with her and doesn’t even want them to be considered a “couple.” Iris’ mother tells Iris that men sometimes don’t know what they want, and she advises Iris to convince Isaac to be in the type of relationship that Iris wants.
And then this is the part of the movie that people will know if they want to continue watching: Iris takes this advice too far by telling Isaac that she won’t uncuff him because he needs to give Iris 12 hours to try to change his mind. Most of “Oh, Hi!” shows what happens during the time that Isaac is handcuffed to the bed. If that doesn’t spark your curiosity, then “Oh, Hi!” is definitely not the movie for you.
The movie’s opening scene actually shows what happens 33 hours after the car trip, when Isaac is already unwillingly handcuffed. Iris’ loyal best friend Max (played by Geraldine Viswanathan) shows up at the house for a friendly visit. When Iris answers the door, Max says, “Oh, hi!” A worried-looking Iris confesses to Max: “I did something bad.”
The movie then circles back to that moment when Max arrives and finds out what Iris did to Isaac, who is still handcuffed to the bed. Max has brought her laid-back boyfriend Kenny (played by John Reynolds) with her. After some debate and discussion, with full knowledge that this situation is the crime of unlawful imprisonment, it’s decided between Iris, Max and Kenny that it’s better for them not to risk letting Isaac go because they know he will report this crime to law enforcement.
Any comedy in “Oh, Hi!” is intentionally cringeworthy and not traditional laugh-out-loud joking. Lerman is entirely believable as the perplexed and increasingly alarmed Isaac, while Gordon (who is one of the producers of the movie) handles the role of unhinged Iris with a certain aplomb. Although the movie has a scene where Iris and Isaac briefly talk about past heartbreaks, there’s nothing in that conversation that could prepare or warn Isaac about what Iris ends up doing to him.
“Oh, Hi!” isn’t a horror movie. It’s very much a satire that makes some sly digs at the age-old romantic movie stereotype of someone in a relationship who doesn’t want to be fully committed to the relationship, while the other person in the relationship wants a full commitment. Many people in these situations feel trapped and forced to make a decision within a certain time period. And there are many reality dating shows that create the same scenario that Iris creates for Isaac, except these shows don’t handcuff people to beds.
The most ridiculous part of “Oh, Hi!” involves a spell ritual where Max contacts a self-described witch friend named Cynthia (played by Sabrina Friedman-Seitz) for assistance. It’s a distracting detour that thankfully does not take up most of the movie. “Oh, Hi!” is a somewhat strange and often-unpredictable film that’s mostly watchable for anyone who is interested to see how this story ends. Don’t expect anything too extreme, because even among the absurdity, “Oh, Hi!” still has some uncomfortable truths that are grounded in reality.
Sony Pictures Classics will release “Oh, Hi!” in U.S. cinemas on July 25, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on July 7 and July 23, 2025.
