OH, HI!: When A Situationship Becomes Deadly
A visual depiction of how being the more interested party in a situationship feels.
Iris has seemingly found the perfect guy; his name is Isaac. He’s funny, gorgeous, smart, thoughtful, and has booked them a romantic getaway. But everything goes awry when it’s revealed that she thought this excursion was their first as a couple, while Isaac views it as them just “hanging out.”
Writer-director Sophie Brooks may have just set the tone for rom-coms in the 2020s. It’s no secret that we’re experiencing the loneliest times known to man, and Brooks gives a stellar depiction of this in an extreme, humorous way.
It’s immediately revealed that there is some sort of kerfuffle before resetting the tone to what Isaac and Iris’s lives were like, together, prior. Their chemistry was epic, banter was perfectly aligned, and watching felt like being a fly on the wall of their growing love story—well, ‘like’ story.
Brooks does an amazing job at highlighting their steamy eye contact, physical touch, and other love languages to show that their interest in one another is mutual. In fact, it makes the one-liners like “I’m just happy to get to know you better” feel subtle or like something the viewer may have misinterpreted.
The build-up of tension is very fine until it’s inescapable—and then the stakes don’t quite lower after that.
Oh, Hi! stunningly depicts what modern dating is like. It looks real, but in many cases, it’s two people cosplaying a loving relationship while in each other’s presence, always with one person thinking it’s more than it actually is. And though the audience is only seeing one weekend of this whirlwind romance, there is enough context to feel for both Isaac and Iris.
Oh, Hi! had its New York premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and will be released in theaters on July 25th.
A true must-watch.