Circa 2023, high-school aged me bought a random book from the public library in my grandmother’s town during their clean-out sale. I took this book home and read it all in one night. That book was “The Love Hypothesis” by Ali Hazelwood. 

When my 2026 self learned that Prime Video was making a movie adaptation of the book that I have since read three times, I was over the moon. 

“The Love Hypothesis” movie officially released on Sept 23. Much to my distaste, I was unable to watch it until this past weekend, but when I finally settled into my bed with a mug of cinnamon tea to watch it, I was pleasantly surprised. 

The plot follows PhD student Olive Smith as she attempts to traverse the Stanford biology doctorate program, joining a lab to further her research, and finding a way to convince her best friend, Ahn, that she no longer has a crush on the guy who obviously has a thing for Ahn. 

In an attempt to prove to Ahn that she’s actually on a date and not spending her Saturday night in a lab, Olive grabs the first man she can find in the hallway and kisses him. The man turns out to be Dr. Adam Carlsen, otherwise known as Dr. Evil, a harsh and intimidating professor in her department. 

In a surprising turn of events, a fake dating scheme follows as Olive tries to convince Ahn she’s moved on and Dr. Carlsen tries to show his higher-ups that he’s committed to Stanford so they’ll unfreeze his grant money. The pair find themselves in various awkward situations that force them to grow closer until they eventually fall for each other. 

The movie and book characters are relatively similar. Lili Reinhart perfectly captured Olive’s determination and optimism and Tom Bateman played a great brooding and guarded professor. The pair had chemistry just like Olive and Adam do in the book, while still showing off the awkwardness of two people outside of their comfort zones.

My only complaints are that the movie left out some major plot points and even characters. 

For starters, the book reveals that Adam had a secret crush on Olive since he met her on her interview day. The movie completely leaves out the three years of yearning on his side and we lose part of why he was eager to help Olive. 

Fan-favorite scenes like Olive being forced to sit in Adam’s lap during a seminar or when a shirtless Adam moves a dead car out of the road all on his own are also missing. 

The movie also leaves out an entire character, Dr. Holden Rodriguez, another Stanford professor and Adam’s childhood best friend. His character was vital to the book and helped both Adam and Olive figure out their feelings and foreshadows difficulty with Harvard professor Tom Benton. 

However, it still had the surprise kiss, the sunscreen application scene, the sushi date, and Adam’s confrontation and fight with Tom Benton after Benton sexually harassed Olive. These scenes made the movie into what it needed to be and may even be kickstarting a new era of rom-coms. 

Despite all of these structural changes made to the movie, “The Love Hypothesis” was still worth watching and made for a swoon-worthy evening for anyone who saw it.

Categories: Arts & Entertainment