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The Love Hypothesis puts the focus on PhD candidate Olive (Lili Reinhart) as she enters the latter part of her academic career at Standford University. With no real family of her own, and something of an introvert, she finds a connection with fellow grad-student Anh (Rachel Marsh). The two form a bond that only grows as the years go on. Olive is desperate to see her friend happy no matter what, so when she notices Anh and Jeremy (Nicholas Duvernay)—a guy she also has a crush on—flirting, Olive encourages Anh to pursue the connection. Knowing her friend’s crush, Anh refuses, so in an effort to convince her friend she’s no longer interested, Olive pretends to have a boyfriend and a date.
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Later on, when Anh is about to catch Olive in her lie late at night in the lab, she makes the brash decision to kiss the first person she sees to throw Anh off her trail. It turns out to be Dr. Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman), known as “Dr. Evil” around the university due to his harsh/un-forgiving method of teaching and general unpersonable nature. What starts as a one-off event turns into an arrangement. Olive still needs to convince Anh she’s over Jeremy and Adam needs to convince the board at Stanford to renew his funding. Something he believes he can do by making himself seem more rooted to the university and…well, human.
"The Love Hypothesis" shines is in how it takes familiar tropes/cliches (even poking fun at them in a meta kind of way) and puts a fresh spin on them. It’s not trying to reinvent the wheel, but uses tried and true elements to great effect.
For one, I really enjoyed how it plays with themes on the challenges women face in the scientific field/academia in general. I also liked how the film doesn’t posit one of the leads as needing to be “fixed” more than the other. As is the case with so many of these kind of stories, there’s frequently one partner who needs to change (i.e. the city person rediscovering their rural roots, the dweeb cleaning themselves up, or the snob learning to be humble) in order for them to really work as a couple. Along those same lines, both of them have very clearly defined goals in their lives; things they want to achieve professionally. While some of this adds to the overall conflict part, neither of them is forced to compromise in order to make the relationship work. They’re allowed to pursue their goals while enjoying the love they have for each other. The reason "The Love Hypothesis" ends up working so well boils down to two factors: the characters, and how the story is told. The university setting makes for a nice change of pace and allows for characters who are genuinely intelligent and bring something new to the table. It goes a long way towards making them feel like distinct individuals, rather than archetypes or the broad generalizations you typically get in these flicks.
Even as you think you have a handle on the characters, they can do things that surprise you and don’t fold into norms. Take Adam for instance. He’s got this uncaring, hard-nosed demeanor but in truth, there’s a great depth of emotion to him. It’s not necessarily that Olive brings it out in him, so much as further interactions and different perspectives, provide the opportunity for his more caring side to appear.
It just shows how strongly conceived and written these characters are. Even the minor ones are infused with an almost immediate sense of history and depth. It also helps that the cast brings them to life incredibly well. Reinhart is instantly charming, managing to capture the shy/introvert yet intelligent/sexy woman dynamic with ease. Bateman exudes the gruff with a heart of gold vibe, while Marsh’s comedic timing and expressions sell some of the film’s funniest moments.
In terms of how the story is told…I’m not sure how else to really phrase it other than, this feels like a Rom-Com for grown-ups. Not in terms of spiciness or anything, but in how the film delves into some deeper subject matter without shying away. This is especially true when the late, third-act conflict comes into play. It’s not some sort of misunderstanding or jealous ex getting in the way (as we often see in the Hallmark flicks).
That’s not to say it isn’t lighthearted and fun—it is—but it trusts the audience to handle the more adult themes alongside it all. It’s obviously not the first in the genre to do it, but it’s refreshing nonetheless, especially given the modern setting.
Also, I was impressed with how well the film handles the quick moving timeline. Through a quick series of montages with Olive’s voiceover, the film breezes through the first couple years of Olive’s time at the university. Rather than feeling rushed, however, the bits and pieces we’re shown do a fantastic job of showing her settling in. Going from the shy loner, to someone confident (at least in terms of her research and skills) with a deeply rooted support system of friends.
The same technique is used to push us through some of Olive and Adam’s relationship early on. While we hit on some fairly important occasions/milestones, it skips through some of the tedious parts in a convincing way without sacrificing their growing affection towards each other.
My lasting thoughts are this: I miss Conrad Fisher’s yearning, and I want more of Lili Reinhart on my screen.