Review: Oh, Hi!

Twilight and some Freddie Prinze Jr. teen movies notwithstanding, millennials never got their Hollywood romance. Blame the Great Recession or the rise of the type of indies that A24 typifies, but we grew up in an era when Seth Rogen was the closest we had to a bona fide leading man. Such may explain why Sophie Brooks’s Sundance crowdpleaser, for all its humor and high production value is, like many in the generation it aims to represent, afraid to fully commit. 

In a premise as ripe for horror as breezy comedy, Molly Gordon (The Bear) and Logan Lerman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) star as a couple in the early throes of coupledom who travel to a remote countryside Airbnb on their first major trip together. But when Gordon’s Iris realizes that she may not see the relationship the same way as her worse half, their idyllic retreat devolves into Coen Brothers-light mayhem. 

A zany mishmash of 27 Dresses and Misery with a winky nod to Fifty Shades of Grey, Brooks’s film offers some truth about the self doubt and posturing that has defined dating in the age of the swipe. Lerman exudes a hilarious upgraded beta energy while Gordon offers up a self-deprecating vulnerability that almost shakes off her “Nepo Baby Zohran fan” pretense enough to show she can carry a movie on her own. 

Oh, Hi! may lack the keen insights into a tech-obsessed world and its trust issues that Eugene Kotlyarenko brought to the similarly plotted The Code earlier this year. However, unlike many in the generation Brooks’s film caters to, it knows what is: perfectly fine.

Oh, Hi! is now playing in theaters.