Tribeca Review: “Oh, Hi!”

Oh, Hi! (Sophie Brooks, 2025) 3½ out of 5 stars

At the start of Sophie Brooks’ sophomore feature, a young woman, Iris (Molly Gordon, Theater Camp), frantically greets a friend, Max (Geraldine Viswanathan, Thunderbolts, who has come to the door late at night, apparently in answer to a summons for help. So when we then quickly cut to “33 hours earlier,” we know that the romantic idyll we watch unfold, between Iris and her beau, Isaac (Logan Lerman, End of Sentence), must somehow run into quite the snag. And yet they seem very much in love.

After a charming drive through the New York countryside (including a stop for strawberries that doesn’t quite go as planned), the two arrive at a rented house in “Ohigh Falls” (or is it just “High Falls”?), where they immediately have sex. Afterwards, they jump in the nearby pond, where they might be about to get it on again were it not for the interruption of nosy neighbor Steve (David Cross, The Post). No matter: they sit outside, reading and chatting, instead. It’s clear they have an easy rapport and are in the early stages of a sweet relationship.

Spicy, too. They find some BDSM gear in a closet and decide to use it. At first, Iris is the one tied up, but then she changes her mind and asks to switch with Isaac. She rides him, it’s a good time, but then, on a dime, the vibe changes.

What ensues is a twisted comedy of errors, with one bad decision leading to others and then those mistakes further compounded by the arrival of Max and her boyfriend, Kenny (a very funny John Reynolds). Though one party is more directly to blame for the mess than the other, what elevates the film beyond a merely humorous study in hysteria is that we can also understand both sides. There’s plenty of responsibility to share. Sort of.

How Brooks (The Boy Downstairs) and co-writer Gordon lean into the ridiculousness of their conceit, while also making room for profound insights on intimacy, ultimately proves a winning formula, even if there are times when the gimmicks overstay their welcome. In addition, sometimes the performances—particularly of Gordon and Viswanathan, otherwise strong—are just too frenzied; the jokes work better with greater restraint. The situation is silly enough as it is; less is more, as evidenced by Reynolds’ laconic delivery.

The ending surprises, however, and in a good way. After the wild plot swings, the final sentiments feel genuinely earned. Dating is hard, finding a soulmate even harder. It’s nice to see the middle ground explored in such an unusual manner. Oh, Hi! may occasionally falter, but with a heart worn so openly on its comic sleeve, it delivers equal measures of tenderness and ribald laughter in a unique combination all its own.

Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Christopher Llewellyn Reed is a film critic, filmmaker, and educator, as well as Film Festival Today's Editor. A member of both the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, Chris is, in addition, lead film critic at Hammer to Nail and the author of Film Editing: Theory and Practice.