How far can one fake-dating experiment go before real results? Now, we have the answer as The Love Hypothesis has landed on Prime Video. After only two days, the film became number one in the U.S and it doesn’t take science to see why everyone’s obsessed.
Based on the Ali Hazelwood bestseller novel of the same name, The Love Hypothesis centers on Ph.D. candidate Olive Smith, played by Riverdale alum Lilli Reinhart, as she unexpectedly lands herself into a romantic scheme after Anh (Rachel Marsh), Olive’s best friend, confesses she has feelings for Olive’s old crush Jeremy (Nicolas Duvernay).
In order to prove that she has moved on, Olive impulsively kisses a stranger to get Anh’s attention. Only that stranger turns out to be the moody professor Adam Carlson (aka “Dr. Evil”), played by Tom Bateman. Soon, that single kiss spirals into a complex fake dating situationship leading the two scientists to question their “false” chemistry.
The movie sounds like a wacky romcom pulled from the early 2000s, and delivers delightful results. What about adaptation wise though? As history has shown, book adaptations can go wrong in many ways.
While watching the film, superfan readers would easily notice there were several scenes cut from the novel, characters such as Holden were removed, and some moments were either changed or appeared rushed, which was disappointing. These editing choices made the movie seem condensed and, sadly, you can’t fit everything in.
Nonetheless, the movie still captured the book charm and was a hilarious, charming comfort watch while powerful in its own way, especially for women in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) field. It is not often we see a female scientist protagonist in a romcom, but Lili Reinhart (also a producer) proved to be perfect as an introverted, lovable, brilliant and sugar addicted Olive.
She makes the character her own as she is very passionate about her work and makes her a role model for young women. Bateman on the other hand excelled as the goth-like professor. He creates a great supporting presence in Olive’s journey and manages to be both awkward, rude and hilarious all at once (especially in the vaccine scene).
Also is there also such a thing as crazy eccentric chemistry? Because Olive and Adam have it. The unique slow burn grumpy meets sunshine dynamic between both characters was giving electric results.
Despite the condensed pacing, Reinhart and Bateman managed to pull off a very unlikely romance in a very hilarious and cute way between the polar opposites. Additionally, the way the film illuminates steamy fan favorite moments between the two was like ripping pages out of the book and onto the screen, notably that famous title kiss and that crazy sunscreen scene.
Aside from romance, the film also delivers a very appealing style of cinematography and writing. Instead of over the top visuals, there is more natural camera work to fit the Stanford academic setting. In particular, the opening lens bathroom scene was intriguing as viewers get to see through Olive’s blurry vision and gave an exciting start to the film.
On the other hand, the writing and character dynamics were very humorous, especially the entertaining back-and-forth banter between Olive and Adam with amusing scenes such as the dinner party and picnic. On the other hand, the movie scores in comedic delivery from characters like Anh and Malcolm (Jaboukie Young-White), stealing scenes with laugh out loud dialogue.
Lastly, what was very interesting was how the film references Star Wars numerously. This is largely due to the fact the book was based on a “Reylo” fanfiction before publication. This is very noticeable through the soundtrack as the Kylo Ren theme music is played twice for Adam while you can hear Reye’s theme for Olive when entering the lab. Plus the costume choices such as Kylo Ren black attire for Adam and the “Reye” hair bun for Olive was eerily similar to the Jedi characters.
All together, The Love Hypothesis has joined the revival renaissance of romcoms that were missed. It wasn’t too complex or dumbed down for a scientific film as it was a wacky, scientific, funny and steamy romantic flick that can be recommended to anyone looking for something new to watch.
Hypothesis: both scientists and romance lovers will be blushing after this movie. Grab some coffee and watch the latest successful fall experiment!
