I was excited to see another film pairing Geraldine Viswanathan and Molly Gordon, as they had tremendous on-screen chemistry as best friends in The Broken Hearts Gallery. Where Viswanathan was the lead in that film, Gordon takes the reins and goes all-in with her performance as a woman scorned in Oh, Hi!, and is also credited with developing the story and script alongside writer/director Sophie Brooks. Written during the 2020 lockdown, Oh, Hi! invites us into a relationship that goes absolutely haywire over a three-day vacation in an Airbnb-like farmhouse rental. How haywire, exactly? Look up the legal definition of “kidnapping”—a surefire felony—and the potential sentence that comes with it.
Brooks and Gordon’s screenplay introduces us to budding couple Iris (Gordon) and Isaac (Logan Lerman), whose romantic journey up to High Falls, N.Y., takes a serious turn when one of them leaves the other tied to a bed for over 24 hours in an effort to prevent a breakup. Admittedly, the bound person consented to be put in this position for some sexual escapades, but post-coitus, they let slip that they don’t feel the same way the other person does. However, the fact remains: One person is preventing the other from leaving against their will, and their freedom of movement has been denied. Repeatedly.
Now… were I to say that it was Isaac who’d used bondage gear to tie Iris down and kept her there, we’d be talking about a different movie. It is Iris who, after finding out that Isaac doesn’t want to be in a relationship, leaves Isaac chained (with leather cuffs) to the bed. Not helping matters is the fact that the self-obsessed, oversharing Iris has said some pretty wild stuff about a past relationship that definitely colors Isaac’s prognosis for getting out alive.
Gordon plays Iris as a woman so madly in love with Isaac—she’s not the type to hold anything back, and she’s certainly jumped into dating Isaac with wild abandon. Written and performed as a me-first type, Iris is the one taking charge in this relationship, which seems a little innocuous at first, but it’s fully realized when Isaac makes his very ill-timed confession. She charges full steam ahead with trying to salvage their relationship, turning to bad internet advice and trying anything to make Isaac remember why he fell in love with her instead of doing one simple thing: releasing him and talking about this like normal people. Well, we wouldn’t have a movie, then, would we?
As written, Iris isn’t normal; in fact, her actions and words from the jump could have been considered downright crazy… but there’s a familiarity to it. Why? We’ve seen her kind of crazy before! It’s usually found in the kind of men you see in “The dating scene sucks!” montages in the early parts of women-fronted romantic comedies, before she finally finds the romantic lead that’s going to carry the rest of the film with her. There are times when the script feels like it could have been gender-swapped, with a full-of-himself man constantly talking about his life and accomplishments while his girlfriend rides shotgun and absorbs everything. And when it’s pointed out that they’re acting crazy, they deflect and say things like “You just don’t know what you want!” or project their own inadequacies and insecurities on their partner.
Meanwhile, Isaac goes from indignance to absolute, deathly fright as Iris swerves fully into her pacing, fast-talking mania, resorting to timidly playing along so he doesn’t get hurt. There’s a horrible truth in this, as we have heard about rape or kidnapping victims (mostly women) doing this very thing or dissociating to avoid further harm or death. We saw it in last year’s Woman of the Hour, we see it in real life, and we see it as Isaac attempts to soothe the situation. Y’see, Isaac is what Iris’ best friend Max (Viswanathan)—whom Iris has called to the farmhouse in desperation—describes as a “softboi,” someone who wants the feeling of a relationship without being in one.
There is no doubt whatsoever that this is unfair to Iris. But an early miscommunication in their relationship seems to be the foundation for Iris taking things as seriously as she has. Yet, here we are, with Isaac tied to the bed while Iris tries frantically to make him fall in love with her. Oh, Hi! is built on two people completely misunderstanding their situation, but our modern-day attachment to social media, rather than doing what’s right, is the thrust of this narrative, along with the pressure of needing to be in a relationship. Brooks and Gordon have created a person in Iris who is overly concerned with the motions of being with someone rather than doing what people do in a genuine partnership: identifying and helping fulfill the other’s needs and respecting their boundaries.
They’ve also managed to make this situation comedic, but not dangerously so. Many times, the legality of and penalties associated with what they’re doing are called to the front, so there’s no mistaking that they know the stakes involved. But defusing the situation won’t work, as Isaac has threatened to go to the police (rightfully so) or tell everyone she knows that she’s crazy. Making deals is out of the question, as Isaac has more than enough reason not to bargain. And now, since Iris has dragged Max into this—along with Max’s boyfriend, Kenny (John Reynolds), who didn’t know the whole story and has innocently accompanied Max—there are three lives about to be ruined by Iris’ bad decisions.
This entire movie revolves around poor decisions. Bringing Iris up to a secluded spot to break up with her—and the notoriously bad timing of the breakup—is fully on Isaac. Iris, however, compounds bad choice after bad choice, making things worse as the movie goes on. By not advising Iris to immediately let Isaac go and trying instead to massage the situation, Max and Kenny are just as culpable as Iris. An incident late in the movie results in a hospital-visit-worthy injury, the consequence of another hasty decision. The ending is a little bit of a cop-out, pushing into a bit of an “I learned something today” kind of patness after so much has happened, but I’m willing to give it a little bit of leeway, seeing how all these decisions have essentially forced Iris and Isaac into where they wind up. (I also happen to think that the last scenes are a dream, but that’s just me.)
Oh, Hi! is an intentionally discomforting movie sure to rankle audiences. While Emily Gordon delivers a tour de force performance as a near-pathological woman on the edge, and Logan Lerman portrays the petrified victim with appropriate feeling, one can’t help but think about a film where the shoe is on the other foot. How would this film be received if it were Isaac were in Iris’ place, especially during scenes where she has to help Isaac take care of bodily functions while tied down? To be fair, there’s nothing unsavory like rape or murder—aside from the obvious kidnapping, of course—but is it more palatable or cute because it’s a woman holding the power? Sophie Brooks walks a very treacherous line to keep things in the comedic zone, but there’s something sinister about the very nature of holding someone against their will and being made to have feelings they don’t. The phrase “Your mileage may vary” has never been more apropos, but even with excellent performances and a script that earns uneasy laughs, Oh, Hi! will leave a weird taste in your mouth.
