by Cyn’s Corner

If you’ve ever watched a film that made your skin crawl while the audience laughed around you, “Oh, Hi!” might hit that unfortunate mark. Marketed as a romantic comedy with a bit of edge, what it delivers instead is a deeply unsettling experience that plays psychological manipulation and non-consensual imprisonment for laughs. I’ve seen bad movies before, but rarely one that disturbed me this much while hiding under the guise of “comedy.”
Technically, the film is fine. The performances are competent across the board, the cinematography is clean and polished, and the pacing never drags in its tidy 90-minute runtime. But all the technical merits in the world can’t save “Oh, Hi!” from its dreadful premise and tone-deaf execution.

The story centers around Iris and Isaac, a pair spending a romantic weekend at a rental house by a lake. What begins as a flirtatious getaway quickly devolves into something far more sinister after a round of kinky sex leaves Isaac handcuffed to the bed. When it comes time to unshackle him, a misunderstanding about the status of their relationship turns into a full-blown argument. Iris, thinking they were in a committed relationship, is devastated to learn otherwise. Instead of having a mature adult conversation or simply unshackling him and leaving, she decides to keep him tied up — for 12 hours, she says — to see if he’ll change his mind.

Let’s be clear: if this situation had been reversed — if a man had restrained a woman for “emotional clarity” — this wouldn’t be a comedy. It would be a psychological horror film. And yet, in “Oh, Hi!,” this wildly inappropriate behavior is the engine of the entire plot. Worse still, the film expects the audience to laugh at it. And many did. In my theater, people chuckled and giggled while this poor guy was chained to a bed (with a ball gag stuffed in his mouth for a portion of the time), emotionally manipulated, and repeatedly harassed by this lunatic woman.

That disconnect between subject matter and tone is what makes “Oh, Hi!” such a grating experience. It isn’t just unfunny — it’s inappropriate. Iris’s actions are framed as quirky, even cute, rather than unhinged. Isaac, meanwhile, makes baffling decisions that only serve to prolong his confinement, including (unbelievably) telling Iris exactly what she doesn’t want to hear while she’s in the act of untying him. Naturally, this leads her to re-shackle him, setting the stage for even more irrational twists.

And then there’s the comb scene. In one of the more confounding contrivances of the whole film, Isaac uses a hair comb to attempt to drag a set of keys toward him — but instead of using it in a logical way, he holds the comb flat against the table, pushing the keys away and off the edge. Why? So that the story can continue to trap him for another act. Lazy writing like this is something I can do without.

Eventually, Iris’s friends get involved, things escalate toward dark territory involving vague murder threats, and just when it seems like things can’t get more ludicrous, the film wraps it all up with a soft, emotionally warm conversation. No consequences. No accountability. Just a heart-to-heart and a pat on the head for surviving a weekend of emotional and physical torment. And Isaac, the victim who had been chained to a bed for almost the entirety of the film, ends up apologizing to Iris for supposedly leading her on. What?

The film wants to be edgy, but instead it’s reckless. It wants to be funny, but it’s morally tone-deaf. And it wants us to believe that everything’s okay in the end — just because the guy finally escapes and the woman seems a little less crazy now. I’m sorry, but no amount of awkward charm or indie quirk can make this okay.

If this is what qualifies as comedy in 2025, count me out.

Rating: 2/10.