Oh, Hi!

“Oh, Hi!” has four exceptionally appealing young actors who make the most of an uneven script from writer/director Sophie Brooks. The set-up is universally familiar: the searing combination of humiliation, self-doubt and fury when learning that the person you trusted does not match your feelings about the relationship or indeed the absence thereof.

As the movie starts, Iris (Molly Gordon), clearly very upset, answers the door to let in her friend, Max (Geraldine Viswanathan), confessing that she has done something bad.

Then we go back in time to 33 hours before. Iris and Isaac (Logan Lerman), her boyfriend of a few months, are driving to their first weekend getaway in the countryside. Their spirits are high, singing along to “Islands in the Stream” and stopping at a farm stand to buy strawberries. A hint of possible problems — he knocks over the farm stand and they end up having to buy all the strawberries. Still, all goes well at first as they are delighted with each other and with the house they have rented for the weekend. Isaac prepares a marvelous dinner, they have marvelous sex, and it is understandable why Iris thinks they feel the same way about each other, especially after they discover some bondage equipment in the home’s closet and decide to give it a try. They have sex again, this time with Isaac splayed and bound to the bedposts.

And then, in the rosy afterglow, Isaac confesses that he is not exclusive with her and considers them as just “having fun.” Iris makes the mistake of Googling what to do, and then she makes the bigger mistake of telling Isaac she is going to keep him bound to the bedposts for 12 hours to prove to him that he should be in love with her. So, she starts demonstrating how lovable she is and he starts pretending to go along with her.

Iris calls her ride or die friend Max for help. Max arrives with her affable boyfriend, Kenny (John Reynolds). Iris has backed herself into a corner and so has Brooks. This shift into a rom-com version of “Misery” is not entirely successful, and the execution of this section of the film is tonally messy. The premise is intriguing but the movie cannot decide whether it wants to be creepy or funny and is not especially either.

Molly Gordon is always utterly captivating on screen. Beyond her considerable talent as an actor and wrier (“Theater Camp”), she has impeccable comic timing. A lot of the movie depends on her considerable appeal and she is never less than watchable, but even she cannot figure out how to make this work. The same is true of Lerman, who does his best but cannot quite show whether Isaac is either too clueless to understand the signals he is sending to Iris or too heartless to tell her the truth. None of the conversation with Max and Kenny makes much sense. David Cross has a couple of brief moments as a neighbor who is weird but less creepy than he originally appears.

The cast is great, the concept has potential, but, like Iris with Isaac, we are disappointed to find it is less than we expect.

Parents should know that this movie has very strong language, nudity and explicit sexual references and situations. Characters drink alcohol and there is discussion of bondage and possible murder. A character is injured.

Family discussion: Should Isaac have been clearer about his feelings? Should Iris have been clearer about her expectations? Who would you call for help as Molly called Max?

If you like this, try: Molly Gordon’s “Theater Camp”