The Love Hypothesis Has No Substance
The Love Hypothesis continues to prove that we’re in a serious drought of well-executed romcoms.
At the bare minimum, a romcom should be captivating because of the chemistry between the two leads. The Love Hypothesis fails at including this foundational pillar. In doing so, there’s fundamentally nothing for us to hold onto.
The film never explores how Olive and Adam fall in love with one another over a short period of time. What actually changed from beginning to end? How and why do their feelings evolve?
The lack of answers to these questions makes The Love Hypothesis mediocre at best.
The movie explicitly states more than once that Olive and Adam are fake dating. While this trope is far from new to the romcom sphere, The Love Hypothesis struggles to integrate it authentically.
The moments shared between Olive and Adam aren’t given enough room to exist on their own. The pacing is awkward, and the latter half of the movie is too rushed.
Olive and Adam’s individual traumas should have been fleshed out further. Adam mentions how he “didn’t set out to be a villain,” but whether it is his intention or not, he’s an unnecessarily cruel character. We never get much beyond this one statement and a side remark that he himself had a bad mentor.
Adam is a grown man. It’s true that certain experiences can shape how a person moves forward in life. However, there’s still a lack of accountability and understanding of why Adam, for much of the movie, is rigid and off-putting.
Lili Reinhart is the movie’s saving grace. She breathes life into Olive and adds as much depth as the script allows. Even through the unnatural dialogue, Reinhart plays Olive with just the right mix of awkwardness and authenticity.
Toward the film’s end, a sexual harassment plotline is added in, and the handling of the material is frustrating to sit through. The conflict serves no purpose other than to incite a “heated” scene between Adam and Tom. Why make Olive go through something so triggering if it’s blindly added in with no real purpose to the narrative?
Including such a serious topic while simultaneously having lines like “you’re edible, Olive,” is quite jarring. What kind of movie does The Love Hypothesis want to be? It refuses to actually say anything.
The Love Hypothesis could have centered itself as a romcom that explored the real pressures women face in academia. How would Olive navigate her own research while she’s “dating” a well-established, prestigious scientist?
How would their “relationship” be perceived through their colleagues’ eyes? How would Olive balance her own goals and the noise around her?
The movie skims the surface of these questions, even though it could’ve easily used more screen time.
The actual love confession between Olive and Adam is so stilted. It’s chock-full of scientific metaphors to the point where it doesn’t feel real. What two grown adults—even if they’re scientists—talk like this?
The Love Hypothesis asks us to suspend our belief too much throughout the story. It just doesn’t work because of the reality these characters are in.
Ultimately, The Love Hypothesis is a half-baked approach to a romcom set within the world of academia.
What did you think of The Love Hypothesis? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and don’t forget to leave your own rating!
Critic Rating:
Audience Rating:
The Love Hypothesis is now streaming on Prime Video.
Check out our latest TV recommendations, updated weekly!
Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!
Revati Gelda
Revati Gelda is a writer and journalist whose work focuses on the arts and their importance in today’s society. Her reporting has appeared in Hudson Valley Magazine, her alma mater’s newspaper Pipe Dream, where she served as Arts & Culture Editor, and more. Currently, she is an Assistant Poetry Editor for Decolonial Passage, a literary magazine.