I do like dark satire—and when it’s done well, there’s nothing more cathartic. Oh, Hi! isn’t perfect, but it commits hard to its tone, and I appreciate the audacity of that. Writer-director Sophie Brooks clearly has something to say about gender roles, dating clichés, and the way post-breakup narratives get warped—and she says it through a wild, unhinged lens that made me laugh, wince, and nod in uncomfortable recognition.
The setup is deceptively simple: Iris (Molly Gordon) and Isaac (Logan Lerman) take a romantic weekend trip, complete with cooking, sex, and the illusion of compatibility. But when Iris casually refers to them as a couple, Isaac freezes and hits her with the dreaded: “I’m not really looking for a relationship right now.” A fight follows. And then Iris, in a move both petty and theatrical, storms out—leaving Isaac tied to the bed. For a long, long time.
From that moment, Oh, Hi! turns into a hall of mirrors reflecting every toxic dating trope and online self-help cliché. Gordon is electric as Iris. She plays heartbreak like it’s performance art—shifting from wounded to vengeful to eerily zen with a deranged grin. What could’ve been a one-note “crazy girlfriend” parody becomes something stranger and smarter, thanks to Gordon’s willingness to push the character off a cliff and keep going.
Logan Lerman is just as vital to the film’s rhythm. Isaac isn’t blameless—he flirts with strangers, keeps secrets, and plays emotional hot potato—but Lerman sells his discomfort with enough nuance that you almost sympathize, even while he’s lying in his own mess, literally. Their chemistry is sharp, uncomfortable, and increasingly surreal.
Cristin Milioti and Steve Zissis round out the tight cast with memorable, offbeat turns. Milioti’s fruit stand flirtation adds an eerie layer to Isaac’s wandering attention, while Zissis’s grinning “love guru” is a deadpan takedown of pseudo-spiritual dating advice. Every moment he’s onscreen feels like a TED Talk gone feral.
Oh, Hi! is unafraid to get weird, and its absurdity is a feature, not a bug. Whether Iris is interpreting a BuzzFeed quiz like it’s sacred scripture or forcing Isaac to reenact rom-com tropes with her, the film knows how ridiculous it all is. That’s what makes it work.
It may not land every satirical punch, but Oh, Hi! goes for it. For those of us who enjoy smart, messy, subversive comedy, that’s more than enough.