The Love Hypothesis Review

The basic story remains the same: Third-year Stanford University PhD student Olive Smith (Reinhart) is overworked and underfunded in the traditionally male-dominated science world. Her lifeline through it all is best friend Anh (Rachel Marsh), a fellow PhD student who has pulled Olive out of her shell, introduced her to other friends like Malcolm (Jaboukie Young-White), and become her ride-or-die found family. When Jeremy (Nicholas Duvernay), Olive’s one-time crush, shows interest in Anh, Anh won’t do anything about it because their girl code is stronger than mutual attraction. Olive lies that she has a new boyfriend to get Anh to pursue Jeremy, but that backfires when Anh wants in-person details about Olive’s “date,” and a panicked Olive kisses the first man she sees for cover — the departmental Kylo Ren, Dr. Adam Carlsen (Bateman). What starts as a horribly awkward moment becomes a mutually agreed upon ruse between Olive and Adam when he shares that his grant money is under threat of not being released. Stanford is worried that Carlsen is a flight risk to another research institution, so he could use a “girlfriend” to make it seem like he’s got roots and won’t be exiting anytime soon.

For both audiences, their public relationship-proving moments escalate into more awkward expressions of intimacy, such as suntan lotion applications and recounting their fictional “meet-cute” to his colleagues. Wisely, director Claire Scanlon (The People We Hate at the Wedding) allows these scenes to breathe, heightening their comedic potential and allowing the ensemble to bring out the laughs, of which there are many. Marsh and Young-White are particularly good at pitch-perfect reactions or zingers that lean into the silliness of the “fake dating” scenario while also building a little ecosystem of friendship that drives why Olive is doing what she’s doing.

Reinhart and Bateman also absolutely sell the thawing between these two socially awkward dorks into a genuine romance. Yes, in reality they’re both too pretty to ever have that descriptor applied to them, but as Olive and Adam, you buy why they’d hold the world at arms’ length and decide not to do so with one another. Comedically, they’re top notch, and the scenes where they get to express genuine honesty and mutual loneliness with one another percolates into a friendship and bubbling attraction that’s the do-or-die element to any great rom-com.

The STEM-centric aspects of the story are watered down in Sarah Rothschild’s script, though an homage sequence to Martha Coolidge’s 1985 science comedy, Real Genius, very much works as it adds a sense of color and context to Olive’s world. Less successful is the science villain of the piece, who gets a lot more time to unfurl his machinations in the book. Here, he isn’t given enough story real estate to be as potent an adversary, or to even rise above a one-note character with clichéd intentions. Fortunately, Rothschild’s screenplay replaces that screen time with more consequential scenes for Olive and Anh, the bedrock for why this “fake dating” operation is even happening. Portraying the strength of their bond is far more worthwhile, underpinning the romantic story with a deeper one about friendship and sisterhood.

And for the fans who go all the way back to this story’s Star Wars origins, there are a wealth of easter eggs to find and laugh over, from pointed needle drops to very specific Laura Karpman musical character themes, and even red-and-blue color cameos. The production knows who you are, and they’ve clearly got a sense of humor and respect for the OG fandom.

At its heart, The Love Hypothesis is a gentle satire of romance tropes, especially enemies-to-lovers, and a celebration of female friendship. Both sound potentially hokey, but this mostly female creative team understands what made the book a hit and knew how to translate it here. They let the tone be earnest yet firmly tongue-in-cheek, and allow their cast to weave their magic — especially Reinhart and Bateman — giving rom-com lovers the exact chemistry that makes the genre work.