“The Love Hypothesis” was released Sept. 23 on Amazon Prime. The screenplay was written by Ali Hazelwood and Sarah Rothschild and directed by Claire Scanlon. The movie quickly hit the No. 1 spot on Prime’s worldwide movie chart, and a sequel film has already been announced, though there is no official date yet.
Based on the 2021 romance novel written by Hazelwood, the movie follows a Ph.D. candidate and a professor at Stanford University who agree to a fake relationship. The novel was originally a work of fan-fiction about “Star Wars” characters Kylo Ren and Rey Skywalker. For the release of the novel, the characters were renamed Adam and Olive. Adam was named for Adam Driver, the actor who plays Ren. A sequel novel is also in the works and has a release date of Feb. 2, 2027.
Hazelwood is a novelist and neuroscientist, which is why she wrote her 2022 novel “Love on the Brain” and her 2023 novel “Love, Theoretically,” after the success of “The Love Hypothesis” in 2021. She also wrote her STEMinist novellas in 2022: “Under One Roof,” “Stuck With You” and “Below Zero,” which were rereleased into one print collection titled “Loathe to Love You” in 2023. She has branched out of science-based characters but stayed in the romance genre with the release of her 2024 novels “Not in Love” and “Bride” along with her 2025 releases of “Deep End” and “Mate.”
The main character of “The Love Hypothesis,” Olive Smith, is played by Lili Reinhart who is best known for her role as Betty Cooper in “Riverdale.” She has appeared in mainly romance movies since, including “Look Both Ways” and “American Sweatshop.” Reinhart has her own production company, Small Victory Productions and in 2021, she signed a deal with Amazon Studios to produce films and series that feature coming-of-age stories. She has won seven Teen Choice Awards and been nominated for many other award shows.
Tom Bateman plays the main love interest, Adam Carlsen. Bateman has been acting since 2007 and his most notable roles include James in “Snatched” and Bouc in murder mystery movies “Death on the Nile” and “Murder on the Orient Express.” Fun fact: he is married to Daisy Ridley, who plays Rey in the “Star Wars” films, so he was meant to play this role. He did a good job balancing “Dr. Evil,” a nickname given to his character because he was so known for being mean, and the loving side of Carlsen that is later revealed.
Other notable cast and characters include Rachel Marsh as Ahn Pham and Jaboukie Young-White as Malcolm Brown. Marsh is currently most recognizable from her role in FX’s “Adults” where she plays Carly. Young-White is best known from his roles in “Only Murders in the Building” and “Strange World.”
As is true of most book-to-movie adaptations, there have to be some on-screen changes for the sake of timing and movie theming. These changes range from small details like outfit discrepancies to bigger ones like entire characters being written out. The changes don’t majorly affect the overall story, but Holden as a character would have been a great addition to the film adaptation.
Had the movie been released as a standalone with no prior novel attachment, it would have been received better. The audience feedback was mostly positive, with the movie receiving a 74% on Rotten Tomatoes from audiences and 75% from critics, but some audience members complained that there were too many changes and that it lacked the emotional depth the book included. For example, Adrian Horton wrote that it “lacks the spark on screen” for The Guardian.
Overall, the movie was good. The acting came off as a little cheesy at some points, and a lot of Adams' character development was not featured, but as far as book adaptations go, it could have been worse. Reinhart definitely stands out amongst the cast. She plays charming and vulnerable very well. The film handled serious moments in the correct tone and didn’t fall into the common rom-com trope of very small problems being the end of the world. The ending felt a little rushed, and the fake-dating setup was not as fleshed out as it was in the book, but other than that, it was a good movie.
