Publication Date: 07-26-2025

Oh, Hi! (2025) review

Dir. Sophie Brooks

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★★

Oh, Hi! gets its name from a misspelled road sign its lead characters, Iris (Molly Gordon) and Isaac (Logan Lerman), pass on the way to their weekend cabin retreat in downstate New York. The two have been seeing one another for a while, and now they’re on track for a romantic weekend getaway, which gets going with them purchasing strawberries at a roadside stand and singing along to Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s timeless tune “Islands in the Stream.” It’s all fun and flirty.

When they arrive at the cabin, they tour the place, prep food, make love on the couch, and enjoy long, tipsy conversation on the back patio. They stumble upon an assortment of lingerie, chains, and other sexual accoutrements in the closet and decide to make good use of them. It’s after their rendezvous when the evening takes a seriously unexpected turn. Something feels off from the jump, be it passing remarks from both Iris and Isaac, and the fact that Conor Murphy’s cinematography is dingy and low-lit. It’s rather similar to this year’s Friendship in that way, although this time it’s a rom-com being staged as a horror movie.

But there’s no blood being spilled or boogeymen lurking outside the cabin. Just caustic barbs, hard truths, and a lot of confusion exchanged between two individuals with radically different views on where this is going.

Oh, Hi! is a two-hander with enhanced personality thanks in large part to both Gordon and Lerman knowing their characters so well. Gordon has been crushing it for a long time now, stealing scenes in films like Booksmart and Theater Camp. Armed with the lead role in Brooks’ latest, Gordon practically sings her dialog, brash and confident whether the script demands she launch into a mid-afternoon trauma dump or dance for her partner as if she’s in a nail-biting competition. Brooks employs great nuance in showing Iris’ emotional journey ebb and flow over the course of this multi-day excursion, and Gordon is up to the task of oscillating between desperate and hurt.

Lerman — who feels like he has been in his mid-to-late 20s for a decade now despite the fact that he’s 33-years-old — turns in a more measured but similarly dynamic performance. At first, he appears like a subtle fuck-boy, but as Iris’ friend Max (Geraldine Viswanathan, Drive-Away Dolls) tells her, he’s more of a “soft-boy.” He’s afraid of the ensuing vulnerability and perceived high risk of heartbreak that comes with commitment, but paradoxically doesn’t comprehend how his actions can affect the women he leads on in the process. His challenge is making Isaac defensible. In conjunction with his abilities, you might be surprised the even-handed way Brooks juggles both these complex individuals.

The second half of the film invites Viswanathan’s Max and her boyfriend Kenny (John Reynolds) into the mix, with Iris calling them for assistance. This part of the screenplay gets a little messier, when the narrative starts levying kidnapping and witchcraft subplots. Brooks effectively lands the plane, and even during some of the more questionable asides, she retains full control over this deceptively dimensional story, one in which everyone involved (even David Cross in an extended cameo) emerges with something worthy of their individual highlight reels.

Starring: Molly Gordon, Logan Lerman, Geraldine Viswanathan, John Reynolds, David Cross, and Polly Draper. Directed by: Sophie Brooks.