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Oh, Hi Molly!

There are a few moments, including right at the start, where Oh, Hi! suggests it’ll be taking a very dark or harrowing turn -if not into full-on horror than into something akin to Fatal Attraction or Misery, just with a more modern lens. It would be the conventional way to approach this kind of story -and that is not on its face a bad thing -Companion from earlier this year isn’t too far from it. But I respect the direction filmmaker Sophie Brooks and producer/star Molly Gordon took instead, even if it made for some complications and problematic plot developments.
Essentially, it is the trope of the mad woman scorned taken with some sympathy -Fatal Attraction if it were on Glenn Close’s side and far more judgemental of Michael Douglas. And especially in the context of a story less about thrills and tension than genuine relationship drama that is a curious idea. And Brooks and Gordon are a great team to facilitate that. Though Gordon isn’t credited on the screenplay, she and Brooks developed the project together in lockdown (as a movie that with a single set could be shot potentially in lockdown too). And they have a relatively distinct collaborative voice introduced to good effect through this bonkers premise.
It concerns a couple, Iris (Gordon) and Isaac (Logan Lerman) on their first weekend getaway together to a rented home in a quaint New York village. They have a cute and affectionate rapport, a settled sexual chemistry, and Iris especially is encouraged by their romance. But after experimenting with some bondage play in which Isaac is cuffed to the bed, he reveals that he doesn't consider their relationship serious, and that they had a misunderstanding in terms of his level of commitment -this in spite of all his romantic overtures in the four months they'd been seeing each other. Iris, considerably more attracted to Isaac and desperately invested in the relationship, endeavours to win him over anyway, refusing to let him free until he is honestly convinced to stay with her.
Iris is easy to read by this as a manic obsessive, and she certainly is to an extent -but not one-dimensionally so. The film goes to great pains to emphasize her point-of-view and the fact that though her response is extreme and unwarranted, the emotional foundation of it is not. Isaac, for his own genuine misreading of the situation, it does appear was leading her on. Nothing about his behaviour towards her and the details of their relationship read as casual: dating consistently for several months on end, hanging out with each other's friends, Isaac had even introduced Iris to his mother -these are not the signs of a relationship one sees no future in. And you feel Iris's confusion and frustration over that, especially given her very romantically inclined nature (earlier she quotes to him from her favourite movie Casablanca as a sign of how sincerely she takes love). Isaac does come off, if maybe subconsciously, as an inconsiderate "softboy" in the words of Iris's friend Max (Geraldine Viswanathan), pursuing intimacy, affection, and validation but with no desire for commitment or effort.
That said, Iris keeping him captive is not by any means justified in the script, and it actually has a fair bit of fun with that when the consequences become apparent. There are effectively two stages to Isaac's imprisonment -one day where he plays along with Iris's efforts to sway him while looking for means of escape, and then a period of confrontation where he makes clear just how much trouble Iris is in -and her main priority shifts into survival mode, ultimately recruiting a pair of friends to find a way out of the situation without risking arrest, invariably making things worse in the process. Through both of these sequences Iris's anxious intensity is a lot of fun, from the observational vantage of Isaac and her own point of view alike -each given credence. And the farcical tone, with minor allusions to darkness in the not-quite-vetoed option of killing Isaac or the invocation of some form of witchcraft, sits squarely in a comfortable wheelhouse for Gordon's performance. She is a delight through all the insanity as her preservative instincts form an identifiable nexus from which she can freely vacillate between wild and grounded actions. It may be the most concentrated showcase of her talents yet, and I feel her career specifically would be assured if the industry prioritized comedies the way they used to. Lerman is a good foil though, especially where he drops a sense of fearfulness for frustration. And Viswanathan and John Reynolds -playing Max's boyfriend Kenny- are both great comic relief in their own right, as well as a charming contrast to what if Iris had her way, she and Isaac might be in terms of a devoted healthy couple. David Cross also shows up for a few funny beats as a weird neighbour.
But there is a degree to which the movie's lighter construct and mild approach to its material proves substantially ill-designed and thematically fraught. In empathizing heavily with Iris's perspective, the script apparently takes on her view that she and Isaac ultimately deserve to be together, the events of this weekend notwithstanding. While the movie's third act doesn't state this aloud it does heavily imply that message. A captive Isaac comes to actually reflect and reconsider how he'd navigated the relationship, assessing his own character flaws where romance is concerned. A flashback illustrates the real connection the two of them had on one of their early dates and its emotional impact to Isaac, and his nightmare scenario is revealed as her hating him. Brooks and Gordon are clearly attempting to thread a delicate needle here, preserving the genuine romantic mood and chemistry set up in the early goings without wholly dismissing or undercutting the gravity of Iris's actions -shrouding them in humour seems to have been their best mitigating effect, and it does in large part work. But for some reason the movie is unable to conceive of a satisfactory way through for Iris and Isaac that rules out a future relationship, and the result in spite of itself comes off as something akin to a romanticization of Stockholm Syndrome. It all but excuses Iris for both her kidnapping and clinginess, and makes for a dishonest representation on the issue of affection disparities within relationships, saying that essentially a partner can indeed through sheer will be forced into loving you more.
It can be difficult to square the movie's qualities with this messaging, that Brooks herself even feels uneasy with, judging by the various caveats thrown in. Oh, Hi! is still a reasonably entertaining film, due in large part to the fun it has with its subverted premise and script, and the performances of a solid cast -Gordon especially. That it fails to stick the landing with what it ultimately communicates and how it communicates doesn't altogether take away from these things, though it does unfortunately temper the recommendation.

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