The Love Hypothesis review: Lili Reinhart, Tom Bateman almost have us swooning
Some romances are built on the destination. Others are built on the delicious agony of getting there. The Love Hypothesis belongs to the latter, which is precisely why adapting it for the screen was always going to be tricky. Ali Hazelwood’s novel made a meal out of the glances, misunderstandings, internal panic and slow accumulation of attraction between Olive and Adam. The film has the faces, the setting and the chemistry. What it occasionally loses is the feeling of falling.
Based on Ali Hazelwood’s bestselling novel, the film follows biology PhD candidate Olive Smith (Reinhart), who impulsively kisses intimidating Stanford professor Adam Carlsen (Bateman) to convince her best friend, Anh (Rachel Marsh), that she has moved on from her crush. One fake relationship later, the arrangement begins to develop complications that neither scientist quite accounted for. Directed by Claire Scanlon, the adaptation has all the ingredients of a familiar academic rom-com: fake dating, opposites attracting, professional rivalry and two people who are considerably more obvious about their feelings than they realise.
On paper, it is almost exactly what you want.
Reinhart and Bateman are exceptionally well cast. Reinhart gets Olive’s awkwardness without making her irritating, while Bateman understands that Adam’s appeal lies in the contrast between his intimidating reputation and the softer person underneath it. Their chemistry is convincing, particularly in the quieter exchanges where the film allows the relationship to breathe rather than underlining every romantic beat.
The setting is another win. The academic world of the novel translates well visually, and the film gives its laboratories, offices, corridors and university spaces enough texture to make the story feel rooted rather than like a generic rom-com with scientists added for flavour. The cinematography is similarly polished without becoming overly glossy.
And yet, this is where the adaptation becomes slightly frustrating for anyone who has read the book recently. Hazelwood’s novel is built on accumulation. The attraction between Olive and Adam grows through tiny interactions, internal monologues, misunderstandings and moments that are funny precisely because the reader has access to Olive’s increasingly chaotic thoughts. On screen, much of that interiority has to disappear. The result is a romance that looks right but doesn’t always feel as dizzying as it did on the page.
The hotel sequence is a good example. It is one of the moments one has been waiting to see, but what makes it memorable in the book isn’t simply what happens there. It is everything that leads up to it: the anticipation, awkwardness and emotional escalation. The film gets the scene itself across, but some of the tension surrounding it feels compressed.
The same issue affects the climax. It delivers what the genre requires, but without quite the emotional crescendo the novel builds towards. The absence of Holden, meanwhile, is particularly noticeable. His presence in the book adds a layer to the world around Olive and Adam and contributes to some of the novel’s warmth and humour. Removing him makes the film more streamlined, but also strips away some of the texture that made the original story feel lived-in.
None of this makes The Love Hypothesis a bad adaptation. Quite the opposite. It is affectionate towards its source material and clearly understands what fans want to see. The casting is excellent, the central pairing works, and the film retains the breezy charm that made the novel such an easy romance to fall into.
But adaptations are ultimately their own stories, and this one occasionally feels caught between recreating the book and translating what made the book work.
There is enough chemistry here to make you smile. Enough charm to make the familiar tropes work. Enough of Adam’s brooding and Olive’s nervous energy to remind you why this story became such a favourite. What is missing is that slightly ridiculous, wonderfully irrational feeling of reading a romance and thinking, Oh no, I am completely gone.The Love Hypothesis releases on Prime Video on September 23, 2026.- EndsPublished By: shweta keshriPublished On: Sep 22, 2026 10:30 ISTALSO READ | The Love Hypothesis trailer review: Reinhart, Bateman spark intense chemistry
