The Love Hypothesis movie came out one day after my birthday, which felt like a personalised gift from Ali Hazelwood herself. I am an avid, long-time fan of hers, so I made it my mission to watch it as soon as it came out. With the book being incredibly romantic, this is the promised return of romcoms in the 2020s.
The plot
Following Olive Smith (Lili Reinhart), a PhD candidate at Stanford University whose research focuses on pancreatic cancer, and her slightly out of place ārelationshipā with Dr. Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman). Olive is trying to subtly let her best friend Anh know that it is okay for her to start dating Oliveās old crush, Jeremy. In her attempts she makes up a fake relationship, but when she is almost caught alone at the lab she rushes to find someone to help play along. She stumbles directly into stoic and intimidating Dr. Adam Carlsen (also known as Dr. Evil). Okay very trope-centered but the movie goes so much deeper than that, and that’s what makes it so good in my eyes.
the good, the bad, and the missing?
Although a lot of things were not book-perfect, my favourite change was the strong focus on Anh and Olive’s friendship, it gave background to why Olive would go to the lengths she did. Anh was more than just amazingly placed comedic timing but she was a true friend, the kind of person we should all strive to have in our lives. They are the true atoms that found connection.
Some characters could have been explored a bit more, or actually included (cough Holden cough), but the movie works and moves along quite nicely either way. There have been some critiques regarding Tom Batemans acting but I think it was pretty spot on based on the novel, his mannerisms compared to Lili Reinhartās over-excited-puppy vibe was so good and made for some great silent yearning moments, and some hilarious storytelling from Olive. Speaking of yearning, Adam Carlsen is yearner #1 and some have said that they didnāt see that in the movie but I disagree. You could actually see the moments he was falling in love, the rewritten storyline of him falling in love during the fake dating and not since their first meeting worked really well.
Romcoms are back guys
This movie was so so cringy in a wonderfully funny rom-com way. I would definitely recommend watching it even if you havenāt read the book. The movie has many easter eggs for hardcore fans, and obviously you canāt please everyone especially when dealing with characters who heavily relied on their inner dialogue in the book.
Regardless of my own thoughts and biases, give it a watch to have a good time, I would also recommend to invest yourself in the rest of the wonderful Ali Hazelwood universe. (Also watch out for The Two Body Problem, the confirmed sequel!)