‘The Love Hypothesis’ review: A familiar formula done right

Prime Video’s The Love Hypothesis brings back the rom-com with addictive chemistry and a memorable lead performance from Lili Reinhart.

You would think that if a press tour largely revolved around the outfits of its lead actress, paying homage to the rom-coms before her latest one, the rom-com she was promoting would be middling to bad. Lili Reinhart has recently gone viral for paying homage to iconic romance looks from the ‘90s and 2000s.

Recreations include Kate Hudson’s yellow Carolina Herrera dress in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Drew Barrymore’s fairytale ball gown in Ever After: A Cinderella Story, Keira Knightley’s emerald green dress in Atonement, Jennifer Garner’s Nanette Lepore polka-dot coat in 13 Going on 30, Sandra Bullock’s lavender Herve Leger bandage dress in Miss Congeniality, Brittany Murphy’s sequined flower and fan dress in Uptown Girls, with her final look referencing Elisabeth Harnois’ pink mini dress from My Date with the President’s Daughter. But it isn’t just about the gimmick, as the latest romantic comedy exceeds expectations, even if The Love Hypothesis offers nothing new to the genre.

The Love Hypothesis follows a familiar formula that works.

Based on Ali Hazelwood’s New York Times bestselling novel, The Love Hypothesis follows Olive (Reinhart), a reserved Ph.D. candidate at Stanford who has devoted herself to academia and pancreatic cancer research. This is a result of the death of her mother, who died from the disease when Olive was 15. There she meets fellow grad student Anh (Rachel Marsh), who draws her out of her shell. Anh introduces Olive to an introvert’s fun side of life – Love Island watch parties of two, trips to Anh’s at Christmas, and the chance to have something of a family of her own again.

When Anh falls for Olive’s crush, Jeremy (Nicholas Duvernay), Olive encourages her to pursue the reciprocated connection. Anh refuses on the grounds of Olive’s feelings, so to convince Anh that she is no longer interested in him, Olive pretends to have a boyfriend and a date.

Later, just as Anh is about to catch Olive out in her lie after finding her in her lab, Olive impulsively kisses intimidating professor Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman), dubbed “Dr. Evil” by students and faculty alike, to prove she has moved on. In doing so, she grants her best friend the happiness she believes she deserves and will not reach for while Olive remains interested in Jeremy.

The fake dating trope remains enticing in the Ali Hazelwood adaptation.

Adam has his own problems, desperately seeking approval for a grant for his research. The board sees him as a flight risk because he has no ties to the area, so Olive’s impulsive decision becomes a mutually beneficial fake-dating arrangement. If Adam is seen with a girlfriend known to the university, the board will see him as rooted and devoted to his work and approve the grant he needs.

If Olive is seen in a steady relationship, Anh will make her move on Jeremy. While their foray into fake dating begins as awkwardly as you would expect, they establish rules, boundaries, and a strict agreement that their relationship is entirely campus-based. There are, as Adam insists, zero sexual components to their newfound dynamic. Famous last words, much to your and my delight.

Where rom-coms usually fall into the trope of one – usually the man – needing to save the other – usually the woman – The Love Hypothesis pairs two similarly flawed individuals to work through what is holding them back. Olive and Adam both struggle to connect with others, and rather than one changing the other to fit their idea of the perfect partner, they each help the other become more comfortable with the parts of themselves they have kept hidden.

Despite playing with tropes, some elements still feel fresh.

Olive struggles with public speaking. While she is confident in her work, she struggles to communicate that confidence when presenting to the people who could fund her research and help her make a difference. After an especially painful cocktail dinner party pitch, Adam helps her prepare for a conference presentation, building her confidence rather than speaking for her or fixing the problem itself.

In turn, Olive brings Adam into her life outside of Stanford. She introduces him to her friends, encouraging him to spend time with people beyond his research and reputation for making students cry. He even sits down to watch Love Island with Olive, Anh, and Jeremy, a small moment that will make you no less giddy.

The film also avoids the cliché of one character giving up something they want to appease the other. No one makes a grand sacrifice of a career for love or compromises on location. Adam will remain at Stanford, while Olive is pursuing a future that could take her to Harvard under the mentorship of Tom Benton (Arty Froushan). The Love Hypothesis lets both characters have ambitions independent of their relationship, which makes their eventual decision to be together feel more satisfying, even when Olive’s goal changes regardless of her relationship with Adam.

Lili Reinhart makes for a good lead.

Reinhart makes Olive easy to root for. Olive is quiet, devoted to her research and the friends who have become family, and convinced that she has resigned herself to a life on the sidelines. Reinhart captures her loneliness without making Olive feel pitiable, bringing a warmth and vulnerability to the character that makes her feel familiar. She is entirely watchable and perfectly cast, and if there were any justice, The Love Hypothesis would establish Reinhart as one of the romance genre’s leading ladies.

Bateman, meanwhile, initially plays Adam with the emotional range of a malfunctioning robot. It’s difficult to tell whether the performance is intentionally wooden – the forced American accent does not help the Briton – because Adam is supposed to be intimidating and emotionally unavailable, or whether Bateman needs time to find the character.

Thankfully, the performance improves as Adam begins to let Olive into his life. It is a testament to the chemistry between the pair and Reinhart’s screen presence. What begins as poorly rehearsed stories and awkward moments of affection eventually becomes something that feels surprisingly genuine. Even when the audience knows exactly where it is going.

The rom-com doesn’t leave enough room to explore everything fully.

That said, The Love Hypothesis does feature some flaws. Though we get to learn the ensemble, particularly Olive’s friends Ahn, Jeremy, and her roommate Malcolm (Jaboukie Young-White), we spend far less time with them, which makes it hard to invest in their stories.

Malcolm, in particular, suffers from this. The film establishes him as an important part of Olive’s support system. A particular scene where he explains demisexuality to her is touching. But  his own storyline feels underdeveloped. It is hard not to view Malcolm as tick-box representation. The story gives its gay character so little room to exist beyond stereotypes and his role in Olive’s story, though Young-White does the most with the little screen time he is given.

The bigger problem, however, comes from the film’s handling of the misogyny and harassment women in STEM face. Olive’s fake relationship with Adam exists within an academic environment where the power dynamics between men and women are notable. Men make up the majority of the department, which becomes particularly noticeable when Tom takes an almost predatory interest in Olive and offers her access to his lab, though only if she repays him in sexual favors.

Sarah Rothschild’s screenplay doesn’t emphasize the fallout enough, especially since Tom threatens Olive’s career and research and makes it clear he can damage her reputation if she speaks out against him and his advances. For a film so invested in Olive’s future as a scientist, this should carry considerably more weight. Instead, the storyline largely becomes another obstacle for Olive and Adam to overcome. It’s also a convenient way for the pair to reunite after they separate given the end of their deal. Now they can move on their way to the happily ever after they deserve.

The bottom line.

The Love Hypothesis is an accessible rom-com worth watching whether or not you have read Hazelwood’s book. It is predictable, occasionally cringe, and offers very little that the genre has not already given us. But it also perfectly understands that audiences still want to see two people fall hopelessly in love. This is especially true when the chemistry is good enough to make you forget how obvious the ending is.

Its biggest shortcomings come from stories it doesn’t have enough time to tell. The supporting cast deserved more room, and the film’s treatment of sexual harassment in academia and the world of STEM needed more weight. Neither issue is enough to distract from the romance, but both leave The Love Hypothesis from feeling complete.

Still, sometimes you want a rom-com to make you laugh, cringe, shout at the screen, and root for the obvious. It may not offer a new formula, but The Love Hypothesis proves there is still something to be said for getting a familiar one right.

The Love Hypothesis is now streaming on Prime Video. Watch the trailer below. 

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Images courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios.