I Loved The Love Hypothesis: Here's What You Need to Know About
Updated: Sep 30
If you've spent any time in the romance-reading world, you'll probably know The Love Hypothesis. Ali Hazelwood's bestselling romance has been a favourite with readers for years, so when it was finally turned into a film, I was very curious to see how Olive and Adam would make the jump from the page to the screen.
Well, I've watched it.
And if you've been wondering whether The Love Hypothesis movie is worth watching, here's what I thought, without giving away too many spoilers.
Olive and Adam on screen
Let's start with the important bit: Lili Reinhart is Olive Smith and Tom Bateman is Adam Carlsen, and I think the casting works really well.
Reinhart gets Olive's combination of intelligence, ambition and slightly chaotic energy without making her too over the top. And Tom Bateman has the whole intimidating, grumpy-professor thing down, while still managing to show the softer side of Adam as he gets closer to Olive.
But the big question is: do they have chemistry?
Thankfully, yes.
Because we can forgive a lot in a book-to-film adaptation, but a romance without chemistry is going to be a hard sell.
The fake dating is still one of the best bits
The basic story is still very much there. Olive needs to convince her best friend that she's moved on, Adam agrees to pretend to be her boyfriend, and suddenly they're having to convince everyone around them that their relationship is real.
Which, obviously, gets a little complicated when the feelings stop being pretend.
I particularly enjoyed the awkward moments when they're trying to behave like a couple in front of other people. That's one of the things that makes the book so much fun, and the film manages to capture some of that same energy.
And Adam being completely bewildered by some of Olive's behaviour? Still excellent.
How different is the movie from the book?
If you've read The Love Hypothesis, you'll recognise plenty of it.
Some of the moments I was hoping to see have made it onto the screen, including:
The first kiss
The hotel-room scene
The sunscreen scene
The fake relationship
Olive's STEM career
Adam's reputation as the terrifying professor
But if you're going into this expecting every single scene from the book, you might want to adjust your expectations.
There are changes, but that's hardly surprising when you're squeezing a whole romance novel into a couple of hours. We don't get quite as much time inside Olive's head, and some characters and storylines have been condensed or changed for the film.
I actually think it's better to go into it expecting an adaptation of The Love Hypothesis rather than the book brought to life word for word.
That way, you can enjoy the bits you recognise without spending the entire film thinking, but that's not how it happened!
Does it still have the romance?
ABSOLUTELY! Thankfully, this hasn't turned into one of those adaptations where the romance gets pushed aside and you suddenly realise you're watching a completely different film.
Olive and Adam are still very much at the centre of the story, and there are plenty of romantic moments between them.
And if you're wondering about the steamier side of things, yes, that's there too.
Should you read the book first?
If you've already read The Love Hypothesis, I don't think you need to reread it before watching the film.
Although, if it's been a few years since you read it, a reread would definitely give you an excuse to spend even more time with Adam Carlsen, and I can't exactly argue with that.
If you haven't read the book yet, I'd probably start there.
You get much more of Olive and Adam's relationship, along with all the internal thoughts and little details that naturally have to be cut down when a book becomes a film.
Then you can watch the movie and have fun spotting what's made it from the page to the screen.
If you love The Love Hypothesis...
If what you love about The Love Hypothesis is smart women, brilliant men, technology, workplace tension and plenty of chemistry, you might also want to give my Techboys series a try.
The seven-book series has:
Tech billionaires
Programmers and hackers
Security experts
Strong women
Very nerdy heroes
Seven different romances
Plenty of spice
They're a little less academia and a little more billionaires, private jets and questionable life choices, but if a clever man with a complicated relationship with his emotions is your kind of fictional boyfriend, you might find something to enjoy.
Start with The Refusal and meet a new couple in every book.
So, what did I think?
I'm glad Olive and Adam finally made it from the page to the screen.
Is The Love Hypothesis movie exactly the same as the book? No. But I don't think it needs to be.
There are always going to be things readers wish had made the cut, characters we imagined differently and scenes we'd happily have watched for another hour.
For me, the important thing is that the film still feels like The Love Hypothesis. You've got the fake dating, the awkward moments, the chemistry and, of course, one very grumpy professor falling for his fake girlfriend.
And really, what more could a romance reader ask for?
Have you watched The Love Hypothesis yet? Did Olive and Adam live up to the versions you had in your head?
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