A romantic comedy about a pair faking a relationship is nothing new. Movies like that go way back to the black-and-white era, notably the genre-defining It Happened One Night. The contemporary period saw the likes of Can’t Buy Me Love, Drive Me Crazy, The Wedding Date, and Anyone But You dominate the romantic comedy subgenre with varying degrees of success. And now adding to the ever-growing list is The Love Hypothesis, based on Ali Hazelwood’s 2021 novel of the same name.
Claire Scanlon, primarily a television director whose credit stretches from The Office to Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and who previously directed the feature rom-coms Set It Up and The People We Hate at the Wedding, sticks to the tried-and-true formula. I mean, you know where this is going when two characters — Biology PhD student Olive Smith (Lili Reinhart) and Dr. Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman)) at Stanford — make a deal that they would help each other to pretend to be a couple. So, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to determine the inevitable will-they-or-won’t-they-end-up-for-real angle by the end of the movie.
The Love Hypothesis Began as Star Wars Reylo Fan Fiction
What most people won’t realize after watching the Amazon Prime Video film is that Ali Hazelwood’s novel actually began as Star Wars fan fiction, titled Head Over Feet and posted online in 2018, with Olive modeled on Rey and Adam Carlsen on Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren. That bit of information makes the fact that Tom Bateman is married to Daisy Ridley that much more interesting. According to Reinhart, neither Bateman nor Ridley knew about the fan-fiction connection beforehand, which makes it one of the happier casting coincidences of the year.
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Lili Reinhart Is the Heart of The Love Hypothesis
It’s familiar stuff, but even a predictable movie — romantic comedy or not — can be enjoyable too if the performance and storytelling execution still hit the right spot. And that’s exactly what I surprisingly find in The Love Hypothesis, beginning with Reinhart’s irresistibly charming performance. Her Olive character may have been socially awkward even to the point of suffering from occasional stress-induced underarm sweat, but it’s hard not to fall for her personality, like how she turns out to be a selfless person to give her best friend, Anh (Rachel Marsh), the opportunity to date Jeremy (Nicholas Duvernay), despite admitting she had an initial crush on him.
She even goes so far as to convince Anh she’s already seeing someone, resulting in an impulsive moment that sees her locking lips with the aforementioned professor in a hallway at one point. Then comes the proposal after Adam decides to see her in his office one day: A fake-relationship agreement that would ensure Anh and Jeremy get together, while Adam can secure the research grant since the university administration prioritizes someone with long-term loyalty and personal stability.
Do Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman Have Chemistry?
This leads to a series of awkward moments where the two have to make it look like they are a couple in love with each other, such as a scene where Olive acts like she’s enjoying putting sunscreen on Adam’s half-naked body following a frisbee game in front of everyone. Watching Reinhart and Bateman play pretend is fun to watch, and it helps that their on-screen chemistry works better than I expected. The two’s opposite-attract dynamic, with Adam’s personality, which comes across as cold and calculated and earned him the “Dr. Evil” moniker due to his stern and ruthless teaching method, allows Bateman to play off well with Reinhart’s Olive.
And when they eventually reach a turning point in seeing them finally fall for each other — hardly a spoiler anyway — Scanlon does a good job of highlighting their passionate romance and the subsequent conflict that drives the later part of the second act onward.
The Love Hypothesis Supporting Cast and Runtime
While Reinhart and Bateman are the beating heart of this otherwise formulaic rom-com, The Love Hypothesis equally benefits from a solid supporting cast. This includes Rachel Marsh, whose fiercely protective and loyal Anh is worth mentioning here. The movie could have used a tighter edit, though, especially given the 112-minute runtime feels like it stretches longer than it should.
Where to Watch The Love Hypothesis
The Love Hypothesis is now streaming on Prime Video. The film premiered worldwide on September 23, 2026, and it is rated R.
The Love Hypothesis |
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After an impulsive kiss, two scientists end up in a fake relationship, testing their theories about love and each other. |
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| Studio: MRC Bisous Pictures, The Cantillon Company, Distributed by Amazon MGM Studios (via Prime Video) |
| Running Time: 1h 52m |
| Release Date: September 23, 2026 |
| Cast: Tom Bateman, Lili Reinhart, Rachel Marsh, Jaboukie Young-White, Nicholas Duvernay, Arty Froushan |
| Director: Claire Scanlon |
| Writers: Sarah Rothschild, Based on The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood |
| Genre: Romantic, Comedy |
| Box Office: N/A |
The Review
The Love Hypothesis
Claire Scanlon's straight-to-streaming movie adaptation of Ali Hazelwood's The Love Hypothesis novel covers well-worn territory that doesn't offer any fresh perspective. And yet, it works wonders with Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman's winning chemistry and Scanlon's mostly assured direction in bringing this romantic comedy the right sense of fun and familiarity.
Review Breakdown
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Verdict
