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  • A Fresh and Funny Take on Modern Relationships


    Introduction

    Current films have struggled to address the modern-day realities of relationship dynamics. Sophie Brooks’ Oh, Hi! might exaggerate the details for the sake of entertainment, but the story’s basis is a skewering of dating, romance, sex, and expectations.

    Synopsis

    Molly Gordon stars as Iris, a young woman going on her first weekend getaway with her boyfriend Isaac (Logan Lerman). While everything begins idyllic, including some light bondage during a sexual encounter, Iris mentions their status as a couple, which Isaac rejects. Apoplectic, Iris leaves Isaac chained to the bed and goes to another part of the house to ruminate.

    Oh, Hi!
    Logan Lerman and Molly Gordon in ‘Oh, Hi!” (2025). Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

    Following a phone call with her mother (Polly Draper), Iris attempts to convince Isaac to stay with her for the next 12 hours while he is chained. As Iris tries everything in her power to keep Isaac in a relationship he didn’t know he was in, she enlists the help of her best friend, Max (Geraldine Viswanathan), who brings along her boyfriend, Kenny (John Reynolds). As they face the true implications of their actions, Iris attempts to reconcile and recontextualize the reality of her and Isaac’s relationship.

    Themes

    Brooks and Gordon (who receive a story credit) are not in the business of having the right answers for any party. Outside of the actual kidnapping aspect, who is actually to blame for their status as a couple is always in question. Iris correctly points out arbitrary “boyfriend” things Isaac has done for her, while Isaac correctly states their relationship has never been formalized.

    On the flip side, Iris is jumping to very large conclusions while Isaac cannot be that oblivious to the reality of their situation. Neither character gets an easy out. It’s all presented with this tightrope walk of lunacy and pragmatism.

    Oh, Hi!
    Logan Lerman and Molly Gordon in ‘Oh, Hi!” (2025). Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

    Out of context, Iris performing an interpretive dance she did as a child for a chained Isaac seems like crazy behavior. Nonetheless, Iris just wants the ease and romance they experienced in their first few hours to continue, no matter the cost. It’s only with the arrival of Max and Kenny that Iris recognizes the severity and insanity of her actions. It somehow also never strays from comedy.

    Jokes about going to jail, or even the possibility of murdering Isaac, are mentioned, but there is no actual threat of real harm. The lack of severity in the threats doesn’t make the film predictable. It’s the exact opposite. Your mind concocts several scenarios, and Brooks leads it to a satisfying conclusion.

    Cast

    Gordon, who has shot to stardom as a writer, director, and performer, delivers her best performance. She completely inhabits Iris’ ideals of romance and desire, while switching to levels of instability and unpredictability without betraying her characterization. It’s her most complex work, and she shares a balanced chemistry with each of her scene partners.

    Viswanathan-Gordon-Oh-Hi
    Geraldine Viswantahan and Molly Gordon in “Oh, Hi!” (2025). Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

    Lerman, who seemed doomed to typecasting as the young, sensitive man, plays wonderfully against type. While he is by no means a creep or a deviant, he smartly subverts the expectations of his previous film roles to deliver a solid comedic performance.

    It takes a while for Viswanathan to show up, but she is an always-welcome sight. Similarly, her chemistry with Reynolds is one of longstanding trust, which is difficult to convey in the short time span the film allows. Reynolds also has some hilarious line readings with a dry delivery. David Cross also shows up briefly as a particularly odd, but continually funny neighbor to the house.

    Conclusion

    Oh, Hi! is a breezy watch for the new generation of 20 and 30-year-olds attempting to navigate modern relationships. It might not be the deepest of films, but the tone will be a big hit for those who are currently in that world.  

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_IEVF0GQPk

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  • Protein review – nasty, funny, soulful

    Protein review – nasty, funny, soulful


    A close-up of a shirtless man with a bloodied and bruised face, his expression stern and intense.

    A gang of small-town drug dealing gym rats are set upon by a murderous stranger in this satisfying Welsh genre piece.

    There are worse films to be obsessed with than Shane Meadows‘ Dead Man’s Shoes, and that film’s blood-flecked paw prints are all over writer/director Tony Burke’s witty, Welsh revenge yarn, Protein. The film cheekily adopts its title from the supposed nutritional qualities of human flesh among the more desperate echelons of the body building community, as our hooded, monosyllabic protagonist, Sion (Craig Russell), is in town to take out some tinpot trash and then feast on their freshly carved entrails.

    On the sidelines is kindly gym worker Katrina (Kezia Burrows) who attempts to befriend the shell-shocked Sion, and while he very much remains a closed book emotionally, he does offer her a secret assist by butchering a chauvinist local lout who’s giving her grief. In fact, the horror/slasher element of the film is perhaps the least interesting thing about it, as Burke builds up an ensemble of characters who are all more than mere functional bit-players serving a hackneyed plot.

    For example, two drug-dealing goons who work for a smarmy local kingpin are secret lovers who have been forced to conceal their relationship due to the air of unreconstructed machismo that pervades their grubby little community. Similarly, the two cops investigating this rash of disappearances come freighted with their own traumas, and an initially frosty relationship eventually thaws into something that’s rather toughing for a film that, in the main, focuses on violence, bigotry, exploitation, humiliation and which household tools are best for administering pain to your fellow man.

    The link to Dead Man’s Shoes doesn’t begin and end with its angular loner with zero moral scruples when it comes to offing his targets. Burke injects a much-needed hit of parochial humour into proceedings, exemplified by Steve Meo’s hilarious, hapless Kevin, a wannabe wideboy who loves nothing more than to play dress-up Travis Bickle in his bedroom and have yelled arguments with his (always off-camera) mother.

    There’re no wheels being reinvented here in terms of tone or narrative, but it is a very solid genre runaround that is elevated by its occasional and welcome lapses into soulful introversion. It’s highly satisfying to see a filmmaker transition from a career making music videos and shorts to a work which expends time and effort to flesh-out all of its characters – even if that flesh might be eventually eaten by its cannibalistically-inclined antihero.



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