‘Oh, Hi!’ Review: Logan Lerman & Molly Gordon’s Romantic Getaway Goes Wrong In Sophie Brooks’ Rom-Com — Sundance Film Festival
As the couple in Oh, Hi! struggles to fully commit, the Sundance Film Festival romantic-comedy from Sophie Brooks also struggled to connect with its audience.
Writer-director Brooks’ sophomore feature stars Molly Gordon and Logan Lerman as Iris and Isaac, a new couple who go on a romantic getaway that comes to a screeching halt when they reach a misunderstanding about their relationship status. With Isaac chained up during an act of light kink, Iris takes advantage of her captive audience to convince him to be her boyfriend.
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Although Brooks’ follow-up to the charming 2017 feature The Boy Downstairs has the recipe for an enjoyable romantic comedy, complete with some gorgeous countryside views and supporting performances from the always hilarious Geraldine Viswanathan and John Reynolds, Oh, Hi! ultimately struggles to find its footing.
Even with some heavy-handed exposition to catch us up on their brief relationship, there’s not enough character development to tell us how these people have changed as individuals, let alone as a potential couple. With more of a heartfelt connection between Iris and her mother (Polly Draper) and better comedic chemistry with a random neighbor (David Cross), there’s hardly a spark left for her and Isaac.
Perhaps that was the intention in Brooks’ script, as the movie is ultimately about two people who should not be together.
At one point during her impromptu hostage situation, Gordon’s Iris admitted she didn’t have much of a plan past keeping him tied up, which felt like an unfortunate metaphor for the structure of the story in which only half the jokes land … as if they were hoping the audience would get Stockholm syndrome.
The second act slightly picks up as Iris is allowed to explore her craziness, but it’s ultimately situational humor without any meaningful development.
Even though Iris prefaced their weekend getaway with a disturbing intrusive thought about a previous boyfriend, her big unhinged moment is ultimately a passive decision to not untie her non-boyfriend. Isaac later makes a more active move in his attempt to escape, even when it’s pretty clearly an overcorrect as he’s in no real danger — other than the monotony of a group of twentysomethings trying to socialize outside of an urban hub.
While Oh, Hi! attempts to speak to a generation disillusioned with romance in pursuit of something more lasting, it’s ultimately a dark comedy that doesn’t say anything new about how millennials and Gen Z view sex, monogamy and mental health.
Amid a film festival lineup with beautifully twisted stories about the raw, complex experience of human connection, Oh, Hi! falls a little short.
Producers are David Brooks, Dan Clifton, Julie Waters, Brooks and Gordon.
Title: Oh, Hi!
Festival: Sundance (Premieres)
Director: Sophie Brooks
Screenwriters: Sophie Brooks
Cast: Molly Gordon, Logan Lerman, Geraldine Viswanathan, John Reynolds
Sales agents: UTA, WME
Running time: 1 hr 34 mins
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