John Reynolds Archives

Review: ‘Oh, Hi!’ (2025), starring Molly Gordon, Logan Lerman, Geraldine Viswanathan, and John Reynolds

July 23, 2025

by Carla Hay

Logan Lerman and Molly Gordon in “Oh, Hi!” (Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)

“Oh, Hi!” (2025)

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.

John Reynolds and Geraldine Viswanathan in “Oh, Hi!” (Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)

“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.

Review: ‘Save Yourselves!,’ starring Sunita Mani and John Reynolds

October 2, 2020

by Carla Hay

“Save Yourselves!”

Directed by Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson

Culture Representation: Taking place primarily in New York City and Crawford, New York’s Pine Bush area, the sci-fi horror comedy “Save Yourselves!” features a predominantly white cast (with a few people of Indian heritage and one African American) representing the middle-class.

Culture Clash: During a getaway trip in a remote area, a hipster couple in their 30s find out that the world is being invaded by strange, fuzzy alien creatures.

Culture Audience: “Save Yourselves!” will appeal primarily who like quirky comedies that poke fun at “hipster culture” and people’s addictions to technology.

What’s scarier: Going a week without plugging into any technology or having strange, fuzzy creatures suddenly invade the world? The live-in couple at the center of the sci-f-/horror comedy “Save Yourselves!” find out when they go on a getaway trip to a remote cabin to “unplug” from technology, only to discover that the world is being invaded by creatures from outer space. The offbeat humor works for most of the movie, even though the story might end too abruptly for many people’s tastes.

Written and directed by real-life couple Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, “Save Yourselves!” shines best when it realistically portrays the everyday ebbs and flows of a relatively happy couple’s relationship, even when they’re in the midst of some absurd chaos. Su (played by Sunita Mani) and Jack (played by John Reynolds) live together in New York City’s Brooklyn borough, and they’ve reached a crossroads in their relationship.

Su, who is 30, is thinking about starting a family with Jack. Jack, who is 34, tells Su that he’s not ready to become a parent yet because he often still feels like a kid himself. They both work in technology-related jobs and look and act like “hipsters”—young people who want to be socially conscious and trendy at the same time. They are also very connected to technology, since they’re constantly on their phones and they use tech devices like Alexa and Siri.

It’s not made clear in the movie how long Su and Jack have been dating each other, but Su wants to take their relationship to the next level by becoming parents. During an argument over this issue, Su yells at Jack, “My mom had three kids by the time she was my age! You’re 34. What are you doing?” It’s the kind of cutting remark that she seems to regret almost immediately as she says it.

Su is the person in the relationship who wants more order, stability and a planned-out way of doing things. Jack is more of a “go with the flow” type of person who is doesn’t get as upset as Su does if things don’t go according to plan. In the movie’s opening scene, Su and Jack have a minor squabble because Jack and used her laptop and erased all the tabs that she had set on the laptop.

After some back-and-forth bickering, he admits that he deleted the tabs, but not intentionally. He tells Su, “In this world, there are so many things that are more important.” He then apologizes: “I’m sorry for all the things you want me apologize for.”

But that isn’t good enough for Su, who demands that Jack verbally list all of the things he need to apologize for until Su is satisfied with what he says. It’s pretty clear from this scene that Su has the more dominant personality in the relationship. She’s not mean-spirited. She would just rather have things done her way.

Later that evening, Su and Jack attend a bachelor party for their gay friend Blake (played by John Early), who is seen briefly in the movie. At the party, Jack talks with the bartender named Raph, pronounced “raff” (played by Ben Sinclair), who tells Jack that he used to be an investment banker, but he gave it all up to travel around the world and work in a less-stressful job.

Raph also gives John a rock crystal that Raph says he got from Patagonia. According to Raph, the rock will help ease anger and stress. Raph also mentions that he has a cabin in upstate New York (in the city of Crawford’s Pine Bush area) that he uses as a getaway. Raph invites Jack to use the cabin whenever he feels like it.

This conversation with Raph idea sparks an idea in Jack to go on a getaway trip with Su and completely unplug from technology for a week. He thinks it would be an ideal way to connect with each other on a deeper emotional level as a couple, since they won’t be distracted by technology and their jobs. Su is willing to try the idea when Jack mentions that Raph’s cabin in the woods would be the perfect place to stay during their trip.

Shortly after Su and Jack call their respective workplaces to let them know that they will be gone for a week, Su’s job sends her a message to let her know that she’s been fired. Apparently, taking that amount of time off from work on short notice was not acceptable to the company. After Su gets over her initial shock, she comments to Jack about getting fired: “This is a good thing.”

Later, after it sinks in how her job loss will affect her financial security, Su starts to worry, but she still decides to go ahead with the getaway trip. Su is in constant contact with her demanding mother, who calls Su frequently and is never seen in the movie. (Zenobia Shroff is the voice of Su’s mother over the phone.) Su dreads telling her mother that she lost her job, so she decides she won’t tell her mother until after Su gets back from the trip.

Before they take their road trip to the cabin, Su and Jack both change their outgoing voice mail greetings to tell callers that Su and Jack will be gone for a week (from June 2 to June 9) and they will be completely disconnected from technology and won’t be checking or returning messages for the entire week. Jack and Su bring their phones with them, in case of an emergency, but they make a promise to each other not to look at their phones during the trip.

When they arrive at the large modern cabin, Su and Jack see a brown shaggy fuzz ball that’s the size of a bowling ball on the kitchen floor. They don’t touch the fuzz ball, but they assume it’s some kind of kitschy decoration, and they call the sphere object a “poof.” (Not the British slang term for a gay man but the term that people use for a poof ball.)

Because the main reason for the trip is to work on their relationship, Su and Jack do some self-help, couples-therapy emotional exercises, where they ask each other questions that are supposed to elicit deep or intimate answers. Jack is initially annoyed when Su admits that she got some of these self-help instructions from the Internet before they left for the trip, because he thinks that defeats the purpose of it being a trip that’s truly free of technology. But Su placates him by saying that she wrote down the self-help instructions by hand instead of printing them out.

Su has a big secret during this trip: She can’t resist checking messages on her phone. She finds out that her mother has called multiple times to talk about creatures that have been sighted all over New York City. Her mother says that some people initially thought the creatures were rats but the creatures are actually something else. Su doesn’t think anything of the messages and doesn’t say anything to Jack about what she heard from her mother.

Soon after their arrival, Su and Jack notice something strange: A bottle of vodka and a jar of alcohol in the kitchen that were full the night before are now empty, with a sticky substance on the outside of the containers. Su and Jack both know that they didn’t empty the containers. Who or what did empty those containers?

Su and Jack soon find out that the “poof” that they thought was harmless is one of several creatures from outer space that have invaded the world. The creatures consume ethanol, which explains the missing liquor. And these creatures attack by secreting a long, red umbilical cord-like appendage that can attach itself to objects and strangle or subdue people.

Jack and Su (who eventually tells Jack that she’s secretly checked messages on her phone) then try to find out what’s going on and attempt to escape from their environment when they find more “poofs” on the property. There are several mishaps (hint: gasoline contains ethanol) and some other desperate fleeing people whom Jack and Su encounter along the way.

“Save Yourselves!” takes some unexpected and wonderfully weird twists. It’s not a typical sci-fi movie because many of the scenarios are so original and because the movie blends so many other genres in the story, such as comedy, horror and even a little bit of drama. Viewers who dislike all things “hipster” should know that Su and Jack are not as annoying as you think they would be. Except for things such as they live in Brooklyn and they think a crystal rock is a cool gift, Su and Jack are very much like a lot of yuppie couples in romantic comedies.

Because the majority of the screen time shows Su and Jack alone together, Mani and Reynolds carry this movie with a lot of authentic charm. Their chemistry as a couple is very believable. Even in Jack and Su’s quiet moments together before the alien invasion (such as reading their phones on a sofa together or spending time in the kitchen together) look very naturalistic and ring very true. In this movie’s very small-numbered cast, Mani stands out with her wonderfully expressive face that conveys all the emotions that Su is feeling, while Reynolds shows a lot of talent in the scenes that involved slapstick comedy.

The madcap parts of the movie, when Su and Jack are trying to escape from the deadly aliens, are obviously meant to be funny. But “Save Yourselves!” also incorporates elements of tragicomedy very effectively. There’s a scene where Jack and Su check their messages and react with a mixture of dread and guilt when they find out that New York City has been evacuated and they were unaware how much their loved ones were in danger while Jack and Su had been relaxing at the cabin. (The voice of Jack’s mother is played by Amy Sedaris.)

“Save Yourselves!” starts out as a couple trying to survive their relationship and end up just trying to survive. A lot of strange and unexpected things happen along the way, but the story never gets so bizarre that most people can’t relate to it. Thanks to memorable performances by Mani and Reynolds, this movie is a ride worth taking as long as viewers don’t expect a conventional ending.

Bleecker Street released “Save Yourselves!” in select U.S. cinemas on October 2, 2020. The movie’s digital and VOD release date is October 6, 2020.

Review: ‘Horse Girl,’ starring Alison Brie

February 7, 2020

by Carla Hay

“Horse Girl”

Directed by Jeff Baena

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city, the sci-fi drama “Horse Girl” (which has almost nothing to do with horses) has a predominantly white cast of characters representing the middle class.

Culture Clash: When a seemingly normal woman tells people about why strange things are happening to her, they think she’s crazy.

Culture Audience: “Horse Girl” will appeal primarily who audiences who prefer arthouse sci-fi films, but this movie can’t quite rise above its mediocrity and ultimately disappointing conclusion.

John Reynolds and Alison Brie in “Horse Girl” (Photo by Katrina Marcinowski)

Don’t be fooled by the title of the movie drama “Horse Girl,” because this isn’t a “National Velvet” type of story about a girl and her “best friend” horse who overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles to win a race. Nor is this a non-sports horse movie about someone with a special talent to communicate with horses, such as “The Horse Whisperer.” In fact, after seeing “Horse Girl,” you might wonder what the word “horse” was doing in the title in the first place. There’s a horse in this movie, but it’s not central to the plot, and the horse is in this 104-minute film for no more than 15 minutes.

So, what is “Horse Girl” about anyway? It’s about a shy, neurotic woman named Sarah (played by Alison Brie, who co-wrote the “Horse Girl” screenplay with director Jeff Baena) who believes she’s discovered something horrible about her life, but everyone around her thinks she’s crazy. When viewers first see Sarah, she’s living a routine and boring life that consists of her working as a sales associate at a local arts-and-crafts store and then coming home at night to watch TV. Her favorite show is a paranormal drama series called “Purgatory,” which features detectives investigating strange crimes that might or might not have to do with vampires and the occult.

She also spends time at a ranch where the people there don’t look too happy to see her. There’s a horse at the ranch named Willow that Sarah is overly attached to, for reasons that are explained later in the story. From the way that Sarah acts around the horse and the teenage girl who gets to ride Willow, it would be easy to assume Sarah is either the owner of the horse or a horse trainer. But things aren’t always what they seem to be with Sarah.

In the film’s opening scene—which almost looks like a parody of the prissy characters that the Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo in “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar”—Sarah and her co-worker Joan (played by Molly Shannon) commiserate over finding out what their heritage is through DNA test kits. Joan raves about getting her DNA test results, as if it’s the most exciting thing to happen to her all year. She urges Sarah to do a DNA test too, and Sarah says that she’ll think about it. Later in the movie, Joan surprises Sarah by giving her a DNA test kit for Sarah’s birthday, and Sarah does the test.

Meanwhile, Sarah’s home life is fairly lonely, even though she has a roommate. Sarah’s pretty and confident roommate Nikki (played by Debby Ryan) is the kind of woman who gives off the aura of someone who was probably a queen-bee cheerleader in high school. Nikki and her boyfriend Brian (played by Jake Picking) spend a lot of time at each other’s place. When they’re over at Nikki and Sarah’s apartment, they rarely spend time with Sarah.

You can tell that Nikki feels sorry for Sarah when Nikki suggests that Brian’s roommate Darren Colt (played by John Reynolds) come over sometime so they could double date. Sarah is reluctant and doesn’t show further enthusiasm about the “double date” idea, until Darren actually comes over with Nikki and Brian. Sarah and Darren feel an instant attraction to each other. And the fact that Darren is the name of the male lead chatacter in “Purgatory” makes it even better for Sarah, who blurts out this information to Darren.

It’s the first clue that something is really “off” with Sarah, but Darren brushes it off and thinks that Sarah is just nervous and awkward. During this house-party get-together, all four loosen up with alcohol, while the guys smoke some marijuana too. Everyone gets very intoxicated, which leads to Darren and Sarah dancing with no inhibitions with each other. After Darren leaves, Sarah vomits in the toilet.

The next day, Darren shows up at the apartment unexpectedly because he forgot to ask Sarah for her phone number. She gives him her number, and they start dating. Sarah gets an occasional nosebleed, but she doesn’t think much about it.

Meanwhile, Sarah goes to a home of a young female friend around her age to visit with her. The woman has difficulty walking, and her speaking skills also sound physically challenged. Who is this mysterious friend?

In a flashback, we see that she used to be a horse-riding pal of Sarah’s until a horrible accident left her impaired. Sarah was riding Willow at the time of the accident. Although it’s never shown or fully explained in the movie, that traumatic incident had something to do with why Sarah no longer owns Willow, but she keeps showing up at the ranch of Willow’s new owners, who can barely tolerate Sarah, since she acts like she’s still responsible for taking care of Willow.

What does that horse have to do with some of the twists and turns in the rest of the story? It’s enough to say that Sarah’s nosebleeds and her habit of sleepwalking have more to do with the story than the horse. Sarah’s sleepwalking starts to become very unsettling when things start happening, such as her stepfather’s car, which he’s let her borrow, ends up being towed because it was found in the middle of a street with a door open and the keys still in the ignition. (Paul Reiser plays Sarah’s stepfather Gary in what is essentially a cameo role.)

Sarah has no memory of driving the car there, and before she found out where the car was, she reported the car stolen. Viewers find out that Sarah’s mother had a history of depression and committed suicide years earlier. Sarah’s maternal grandmother (who looks just like Sarah in photos that are shown) also had a history of mental illness. Did Sarah inherit any of their mental problems? She seems terrified of that possibility.

One thing’s for sure: Sarah has a recurring dream that she’s lying face up in a completely white, clinical-looking room. She’s in the middle of two other people, who are also lying face up, but they appear to be asleep. One is a middle-aged man and the other is a woman who’s around Sarah’s age. Before anything happens next in the dream, Sarah wakes up.

One day, Sarah is shocked to see the man from her dream show up randomly in real life, when she sees him from a distance while she’s at her job. She follows him outside, and sees from the van that he’s driving that he works for a company called Santiguez Plumbing. She goes to his place of work and finds out that his name is Ron (played by John Ortiz), but he doesn’t know who Sarah is when Sarah asks if they’ve ever met before. He also says he has no memory of having a dream similar to hers.

More strange things keep happening to Sarah. There are long, horizontal scrape marks on her apartment wall that have appeared with no explanation. Sarah also wakes up with mysterious bruises on her body. By this point in the movie, Sarah has gone from a passive, soft-spoken person to almost manic and hysterical when she starts to put together a theory of what’s happening to her. It’s a theory that won’t be revealed in this review (even though it’s revealed in the movie’s trailer), but it takes the story in a direction that’s completely different from how the movie began.

It’s enough to say that Sarah has a very public meltdown, and she ends up getting psychiatric help. She’s assigned to a counselor named Ethan (played by Jay Duplass) who remains sympathetic but highly skeptical, as Sarah explains to him what she thinks is happening to her. (Hint: It involves a conspiracy.) The problem with “Horse Girl” is that even with the sci-fi elements that come into play with this story, where people have to suspend a certain amount of disbelief, there are so many plot holes for Sarah’s conspiracy theory that even if the theory were true, it would be almost impossible for Sarah not to find out about certain actions a lot sooner than she does.

“Horse Girl” director Baena and Brie previously worked together when she co-starred in the 2017 offbeat comedy “The Little Hours,” which was about horny Catholic nuns who act on their lusty desires. That movie gave viewers the anticipation of wondering what’s going to happen next. “Horse Girl” doesn’t have quite the same ability to keep viewers compelled, because of its nonsensical storyline. The first half of “Horse Girl starts off fairly intriguing, but the last half is a lot like a slogging through mud.

Horse fans, you’ve been given fair warning. This movie is definitely not about horses. If you want to watch a conspiracy-theory movie with sci-fi gimmicks that have been done much better in other films, then feel free to waste about 104 minutes of your time to watch “Horse Girl.”

Netflix premiered “Horse Girl” on February 7, 2020.