Oh, Hi, ‘Oh, Hi!,’ I’m So Glad I’ve Met You

August 1, 2025

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Oh, hi, Logan. Oh, hi, Molly. (CREDIT: Sony Pictures Classics/Screenshot)

Starring: Molly Gordon, Logan Lerman, Geraldine Viswanathan, John Reynolds, David Cross, Polly Draper, Desmin Borges

Director: Sophie Brooks

Running Time: 95 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: July 25, 2025 (Theaters)

The first line of the 2025 movie Oh, Hi! is the title itself. And that immediately got things right in my favor, both because I appreciated how it fulfilled an implicit promise and because one of my favorite films of all time is famous for its frequency of characters greeting each other.

Anyway, in case you haven’t seen it, Oh, Hi! stars Molly Gordon and Logan Lerman as Iris and Isaac, a couple of fresh-eyed lovebugs on a romantic weekend getaway in a rental house. Everything seems to be going perfectly, especially when they stumble upon the owners’ S&M gear and decide to have some kinky sex. But then Isaac reveals that he doesn’t want to actually be exclusive, so Iris keeps him handcuffed to the bed indefinitely until she can make him definitively fall in love with her.

I bet a lot of modern daters have found themselves in a situation a lot like this one! Maybe it’s a bit of an exaggeration from reality, but the clear and immediate stakes nevertheless paint a template for anyone to practice how they might handle this scenario. Important things to keep in mind: Iris certainly takes things too far, but Isaac does do plenty of things that would seem to indicate he’s ready for a committed relationship. It’s a good idea to be prepared, and Oh, Hi! is here to help you get there.

Grade: 12.5 Miscommunications out of 15.5 Lovemaking Sessions

It’s Time to Watch ‘Horse Girl’

March 23, 2020

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CREDIT: Katrina Marcinowski/Netflix

With so many movie theaters closed for the foreseeable future, I decided to finally watch and review some straight-to-streaming flicks I haven’t had a chance to get around to yet. And in the spirit of things being not-so-normal, these reviews will maybe be a little more, uh, shall we say, offbeat, than usual.

First up on the docket is Horse Girl, a seemingly quirky indie comedy, but actually no, it’s a psychological study of emergent mental illness, but with some trappings of low-budg sci-fi. We can use the catchall term “drama.” It stars and is co-written by Alison Brie. The other person handling scripting duties is Jeff Baena, who also sat in the directing chair. I know and love Jeff from The Little Hours, in which he previously directed Alison. It played at Sundance in January 2020 and landed on Netflix on February 7, 2020. Thanks to Alison’s presence, I knew I was going to definitely watch it eventually, as I’ve been a superfan of hers since her days on Community (which I’m legally obligated to acknowledge is my favorite show of all time whenever I mention it).

Alison plays Sarah, an introverted lass who works at an arts and crafts store and enjoys horses. Also, her stepdad is played by Paul Reiser! (That’s got to be a good sign, right?) Things seem to be going okay for her, especially when she strikes up a potential new romantic relationship on her birthday. But then, as she begins to experience lost time and unexplained visions, it appears that the mental struggles that run in her family are finally making themselves at home in her brain. Or is she actually a clone who is also dealing with flippin’ alien abductions, jeez?

If you’re forcing me to say one or the other, Sarah probably actually is indeed experiencing mental illness. But Horse Girl makes me think: isn’t the idea of alien abduction intoxicating? What if it could be the basis of a religion? You could believe in them, though not literally, just have faith in them in some sort of way. That’s just a kernel of an idea, we’ll see if it becomes anything more. Anyway, Alison is terrific, but y’all knew that already! (Dint ya?)