The Love Hypothesis

The Love Hypothesis is Claire Scanlon's adaptation of Ali Hazelwood's best-selling novel. Lili Reinhart plays Olive Smith, a brilliant Ph.D. candidate in cancer research. To convince her best friend that she is over a former crush, she kisses the first man she sees. He turns out to be Dr. Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman), a brooding professor whom students find intimidating.

To keep the lie going, the two agree to a fake relationship with plenty of rules. As they act the part in front of colleagues and friends, the arrangement starts to become something neither of them planned. Olive ends up testing her hardest hypothesis yet: that love might actually be real.

Around the leads, Scanlon (Set It Up) juggles a large, colorful ensemble of grad students and academics. The film leans on classic rom-com banter and on the chemistry between its two stars. Prime Video released it on September 23, 2026.

The film argues that connection isn't something you can control in a lab. Olive runs her life like a scientist, trying to find order and predictability. The fake relationship is her attempt to manage feelings on her own terms, and it fails in the best way. Her own line sums it up: "the entire universe, down to a single atom, is built on trying to find order through connection."

A second thread deals with speaking up and being believed in academia. The subplot about what happens in a hotel room with Tom Benton, and Olive finally telling her best friend Anh, suggests that closeness needs honesty and that keeping secrets out of fear only isolates people.

Pure escapism: Read as a comfort rom-com, the film delivers a predictable happy ending, and the pleasure is in how it gets there.

The film is part of the wave of BookTok-driven romance adaptations. Hazelwood's STEM-set fake-dating novel became one of the platform's biggest obsessions, and Prime Video turned it into a major streaming release with Lili Reinhart as both star and executive producer.

Critics mostly called it a well-made genre piece. RogerEbert.com said it "supports its charming claims," and reviewers praised Scanlon's handling of the ensemble and the leads' chemistry while noting the tropes aren't new. The film puts women in science at the center, which is still unusual for mainstream rom-coms. Book fans also debated changes from the novel, including a key Adam–Olive detail that was cut and at least one new scene some readers disliked.

Praised: the chemistry between Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman, the classic rom-com banter, and Scanlon's balance of a large supporting cast. Reviewers said the leads "sell their individual roles" and keep audiences invested.

Criticized: familiar tropes, a predictable ending and a story that sometimes "borders on the implausible." Some book fans complained that a key Adam and Olive detail was left out and disliked a scene invented for the film.

Verdict: a charming, crowd-pleasing adaptation that follows the formula well rather than reinventing it.