Movie Review: A dark comedy about modern dating in sharp, (knowingly) silly ‘Oh, Hi!'
We wonder what happened to the
romantic comedy.
Maybe we're all to blame. How can we have fun with stories about romance when it is so bleak out there? But thank goodness for the filmmakers who are trying to, if not make sense of it all, talk about it.
Celine Song
did it in her own way with
'Materialists.'
And now comes Sophie Brooks' 'Oh, Hi!' about a new-ish couple on their first weekend away together. These movies are not at all similar, and yet both speak to the current mood in valuable ways.
In
'Oh, Hi!'
Iris
(Molly Gordon)
and Isaac
(Logan Lerman)
seem to be very much in sync as a pair, singing in the car together, laughing about a little accident that results in the purchase of hundreds of strawberries and excitedly exploring the very nice house they've rented for this romantic getaway. The chemistry is there: There's humor, wit, conversation and attraction. They're even on the same page on more intimate matters. It is a terrific opening — nothing is really happening, and yet it's pleasant to just be in the moment with them.
But then things take a turn. We know they're headed south from the first frame, when a distraught Iris greets her friend Max (Geraldine Viswanathan) at the country home late one night. We're trained to expect that it's all leading to a fight, or a breakup. 'Oh, Hi!,' however, has other things up its sleeve.
Note to new couples: Best not to define a relationship while one is chained to the bed after a bit of experimentation. Granted, neither thought they needed to have this conversation, but it quickly becomes clear that they both heard things differently. Iris thought they were exclusive. Isaac thought it was perfectly clear that they weren't and aren't. But why, Iris asks, are they doing this at all after four months? Why are they on this trip? Why did he make her scallops? It's enough to make anyone go a little mad, which Iris does, deciding that she's going to keep Isaac chained up until they talk it through to her satisfaction.
It's a kind of over-the-top, 'Misery'-styled meditation on entrenched gender cliches in heterosexual dating. The women are crazy and needy. The men are jerks and aloof. And no amount of rational discussion on either side will end the stalemate. Iris believes that if he just gets to know her a little better, perhaps he'll change his mind. She goes long on her biography in a funny little sequence, but the monologuing doesn't help Isaac figure out how to escape. It just goes on.
'Oh, Hi!' follows this path to extreme ends as Iris involves Max and her boyfriend Kenny (John Reynolds), who are all trying to figure out how to get out of the situation without going to jail. It's admirable how ardently they commit to making this outlandish premise as realistic as possible.
The film loses the plot a bit when Max and Kenny get involved and things get extra silly. It might have been better had it stayed with Iris and Isaac to the bitter end. Gordon, who co-wrote the story with Brooks, is a huge reason it works at all. She somehow keeps Iris grounded and relatable throughout, which is no small feat after she makes her big mistake. At times, that epic misstep made me think that 'Oh, Hi!' might be the
female 'Friendship.'
And while Lerman gets substantially less to do, you come out feeling for both characters, trapped in anxieties of their own making and a social structure in which neither romance nor commitment seems to be a priority. At least this film lets us laugh about it a little bit.
And lest you think people in relationships have it easier, just wait until 'Together' arrives next week.
'Oh, Hi!' a Sony Pictures Classics release in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for 'language, sexual content and some nudity.' Running time: 94 minutes. Three stars out of four.
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Cosmopolitan
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Max has a surprising solution: a Wiccan spell to clear his memory. Brooks took inspiration from her lifelong love of witches. 'For a long time in elementary school, I was convinced I was a witch and would develop powers during puberty, and I was devastated when that didn't happen,' says Brooks. Max and Iris gather the ingredients and create a soup for Isaac to drink, but since he's extremely untrusting of Iris, they have Kenny (John Reynolds), Max's boyfriend, give it to him instead. For the potion to work, Iris has to bless it by chanting over an outside fire in the nude. Max stands by her, also naked, and they sway back and forth and chant together. She does it in 'solidarity.' It's not just a sweet moment, but a pointed exploration of women being friends in cinema. 'Female friendship in movies can so often have a tinge of competitiveness or be the source of drama. There are so many frenemies,' says Brooks. 'To have this female friendship that is pure and supportive, and having Max be ride or die for Iris, felt really honest to me. It's what my relationship is like with my friends.' That night, Isaac has a bizarre dream. In it, he's on a date with Iris at a bar, where they have an open and vulnerable conversation, and a gateway into understanding more of who Isaac is, and his hesitations on being in a relationship. Later in the dream, he finds himself at the house they're vacationing in, and heads outside to see Iris singing 'Islands in the Stream'—a callback to the opening scene where they're singing it together. Things are going well, and they dance in each other's arms, but suddenly Iris says, 'I hate you,' and Isaac wakes up. 'They really were falling for each other,' says Brooks. 'Unfortunately, just because two people like each other doesn't mean they're gonna figure it out or make it work.' When they're dancing in the dream sequence, it's enough to make you think that if circumstances were different, these two may have had a real chance at romance. 'There are so many miscommunications in the movie, and they're never on the same page, but in this dream sequence, they're completely aligned. It felt like an opportunity to see into Isaac's psyche and show that he does like her, and perhaps love her, but something is limiting him.' When Isaac awakes, he puts into action his escape plan. He's still handcuffed to the bed, but he plays it cool, acting like he has no memory of the events. Iris buys it, and uncuffs him. It speaks to her blind optimism and utter belief in the power of love that she could pull off a magical spell to rid Isaac of his memory, potentially even allowing them to start over. Heading downstairs, Isaac suggests making pancakes, but the flour is in the car. Iris has a flash of concern on her face, but that dissipates almost instantly, and she gives Isaac the keys. She celebrates with Kenny and Max, but it's short-lived—Isaac races off in the car. It turns out that because of an open window, Isaac heard their plan to erase his memory. Terrified that he'll go to the police, Kenny and Max want to pursue him, but Iris believes she's doomed and ready to take responsibility, and she goes back to bed. 'I wanted Iris to have that initial hope. Of course, she's going to doubt the spell worked, but her nature is hopeful, and she likes this guy, so she believes it. She wants to believe that maybe there's a path forward for them still," says Brooks. "And part of that is sad, but sometimes that's what life is. Sometimes it's sad to want something for you that isn't quite right, or even good for you." Iris is woken by a call from the police—her car, the one Isaac stole to escape, was found in a crash with nobody inside. Panicked, Iris heads into the forest to try and find Isaac, eventually discovering him wounded, lying against a fallen tree. You may expect the pair to fight, but instead they have a vulnerable conversation and apologize for the mistakes they've both made. 'I just wish you were honest,' Iris tells him, before sincerely apologizing for what she's done. 'I think by the time Isaac's left and she's able to settle and get some sleep, she's able to take a moment. She's like 'Whoa, I'm not sure how I got here', and she does apologize for her actions, which I thought was really important,' says Brooks. 'I didn't want the movie to end with her thinking she'd done the right thing. She knows she's gotten out of hand and she's embarrassed. But I hope what's nice for the audience is that Isaac learns he didn't handle himself correctly. If he had been honest, they wouldn't be in this situation. When Iris says she wishes he were honest, there's a real truth there. It's an acknowledgement that yes, she did something completely unhinged, and also he got her there.' At the end of the film, Isaac is carted away in an ambulance, and he and Iris have officially, permanently broken up. Iris leaves him with a fond goodbye that references her love of Casablanca: 'We'll always have O high,' she says. It's a callback to a conversation they had in the first scene, where Iris jokes to Isaac about a broken sign that read 'O High Falls' instead of 'High Falls.' But it's all completely lost on Isaac, reaffirming that these two were never truly on the same page. 'It's an example of, 'Oh boy. I was chasing this man, and he is not at all ready for a relationship,' Brooks says. The final shot is a close-up of Iris, who is processing a myriad of emotions before settling on a smile. It's a combination of relief, sadness, and hope. 'There's relief that she's gotten out of this weekend, and he seems not to be going to the cops. Sadness that this connection she felt is over and isn't going anywhere. But there's also a slight smile and light to her eyes, and I think she knows she's going to be okay,' says Brooks. As for whether or not Isaac calls the cops, Brooks has an answer for that, too: 'He's happy this chapter is over, and he doesn't want a legal battle. When he's honest with himself, he can see how they got mixed up in this miscommunication. He does take personal responsibility for how he ended up in that spot. Maybe the spell worked a little, and the part that worked is that he isn't gonna go to the cops.'
