Fanfiction is a massive phenomenon that I didn’t really grasp until recently. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood actually started as a Reylo fanfic—that’s the Star Wars characters Rey and Kylo Ren (Ben Solo)—which was originally shared online in 2018 on Archive of Our Own (AO3), a nonprofit site that features over 18 million fanworks spanning more than 82,000 different fandoms. 

I haven’t read the book yet, but I knew about the movie adaptation since I’m a big fan of Tom Bateman. I chuckled when I found out he was cast as Dr. Adam Carlsen (named after Adam Driver) because Bateman has been married to Daisy Ridley since 2023. Apparently the British actor didn’t know about the novel’s Reylo connection when he took on the role, so that must have been quite a fun surprise for him.

Well, regardless of the Star Wars connection, the casting of the leads works well, as Lili Reinhart and Bateman have an electric chemistry. The movie centers on Olive Smith (Reinhart), a Stanford graduate student who decides to fake-date her biology professor Adam to show her friend Anh that she’s moved on from her past crush. The abrupt kiss is already played up in the trailer and promos, but it’s still cute to see Olive’s reaction when she realizes she’s kissed Dr. Evil. He’s given that nickname by grad students because he’s notoriously cold, and he’d often reduce PhD candidates to tears.

Of course it’s a rom-com, so we all know they’d fall in love while playing pretend lovers. But it’s still fun to watch the journey of how they get there, thanks to Claire Scanlon’s sharp yet playful direction and Sarah Rothschild’s clever script. This was my first time seeing Reinhart on screen, and I have to say she’s wonderfully charming and endearing—Olive is someone you root for right from the start.

What makes this movie stand out from typical rom-coms is its focus on female scientists. Hazelwood, who was a neuroscience professor before becoming a full-time writer, brings real expertise to the story. Her books often feature women working in STEM and academia, which makes all the scientific details and lab scenes feel organic.

The film makes a compelling case for the struggle women face in a male-dominated field without stepping onto a soapbox. Unlike many rom-coms where the characters don’t have any real job, it’s refreshing to see Olive and her friends have actual responsibilities. Olive is focused on securing funding for her pancreatic cancer research—a disease that tragically claimed her mom’s life when Olive was just a teenager.

Ok so both Reinhart and Bateman look more like fashion models than burnt-out lab researchers. It’s hilarious that they always look gorgeous and well-dressed even after 12-hour lab shifts. But hey, it’s to be expected in a fantastical Hollywood movie.

I love the strong female friendship here and it enhances instead of detracts from the romance. Anh Pham (Rachel Marsh) is a smart, lively character with a real arc; she is so loyal to Olive that she refuses to date her old crush Jeremy (Nicholas Duvernay) who’s in love with her. Anh is why Olive decides to start the fake dating scheme, showing just how much she’s willing to do for someone she cares about. Then there’s Malcolm (Jaboukie Young-White), Olive’s gay roommate and best friend, who works with Adam’s research team and fits the typical “Gay Best Friend” trope in this genre. 

The fake dating setup uses the classic ‘enemies-to-lovers’ pattern similar to Rey and Kylo, where conflict comes from an unequal power dynamic. Bateman tries hard to play a cold and cruel professor, but you can’t ignore his charming romantic hero side. I love that they didn’t make him clean-shaven… he’s the classic ‘tall, dark, and handsome’ Byronic hero type, but he also has a darker edge that makes him delightfully unpredictable. 

In the book, Adam has been secretly pinning for Olive for a long time, but the movie tells a different story. He only goes along with the whole ‘fake dating’ thing because Stanford put a freeze on his research funding, as they think of him as a ‘flight risk.’ By dating a PhD student who’s got at least another year of school left, he appears as someone with established roots. Adam is so strategic with the plan; he even picks a specific end date for the fake romance. Bateman is such a skilled actor that he conveys Adam’s change of heart as he softens up the more he spends time with Olive.

Things get complicated when Adam’s equally attractive friend Dr. Thomas Benton (Arty Froushan) shows up. Benton is a Harvard professor with a coveted spot on his research team. I could tell right away that Benton was trouble and would come between the couple. I’ve liked Froushan since the latest Downton Abbey movie, but he shows his darker side in the Daredevil: Born Again series as Fisk’s trusted right-hand man.

Rom-com is one of my go-to genres even though I’m not a hopeless romantic. Yes, they’re often clichéd and predictable, but it’s cinematic comfort food that gives you a fun escapism. It’s also a difficult genre to get right, and I think the really great ones were made a long time ago. My personal favorites come from Nora Ephron, Nancy Meyers, and Return To Me by Bonnie Hunt. Still, the last ten years have given us some really good ones, like Rye Lane, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and Always Be My Maybe. Scanlon’s 2018 Netflix movie Set It Up turned out to be such a pleasant surprise, and I’d add this one as one of the most enjoyable rom-coms in recent memory. 

At just under 2 hours, the movie keeps things flowing smoothly. That said, the finale comes across as somewhat rushed, and the resolution feels a bit too neat given the gravity of the conflict. The Love Hypothesis proves that it’s hard to break free from typical rom-com tropes, but it can still be a fun, feel-good movie with the right cast. Even my husband enjoyed this one too, and I will likely rewatch it multiple times. Good thing this one is streaming on Amazon Prime!

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