Oh, Hi! has a fairly simple premise, but for what it’s attempting to do it’s firing on all cylinders as a indie dark comedy about dating and attachment. The film opens with Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson and Perks of Being a Wallflower) and Molly Gordon (Shiva Baby and The Bear) going on a romantic getaway for the weekend in upstate New York, doing all the cute things couples do before an innocent comment explodes into non consensual home confinement which spirals from there. The movie really has a lot going for it: there’s an old pop song that slowly becomes a theme of the movie like in The Lovers; sharp patter and clever editing; and a plot that tumbles away from its original gag into new territory, a dynamic the poet Richard Hugo once called “the triggering town”. The second act introduces new characters which feeds fresh life and energy to a plot that could have grown stale with only two actors constantly blocking each other. The witch scene is gratuitous, but also introduces elements of magical realism into the plot and the dream sequence is well done. The way that Lerman has to go emotionally underwater like a submarine to preserve his safety seems like such a good metaphor for the avoidant attachment style he’s being accused of in the first place, while Gordon plays a wonderfully heightened neurotic everygirl. This is a really fine piece of 20-something dating comedy that’ll repay you in the rewatch, I’m sure.
