Book-to-film adaptations rarely make it to the screen unchanged, and The Love Hypothesis is no exception.
Prime Video’s film adaptation of Ali Hazelwood’s 2021 New York Times bestselling romance keeps the novel’s fake-dating premise and its central love story, while making changes to the characters, setting, and story.
Directed by Claire Scanlon, the film stars Lili Reinhart as Olive Smith and Tom Bateman as Adam Carlsen. It began streaming globally on September 23, bringing Hazelwood’s popular romance from the pages of the 384-page novel to the screen.
Treasure Ayanfe Adetula
What is the Love Hypothesis about?
The story follows Olive, a Stanford PhD candidate who impulsively kisses Adam, an intimidating professor, to convince her best friend Anh that she has moved on from Jeremy, the man they both like.
Adam agrees to pretend they are dating because the arrangement could help him protect his research funding. Their fake relationship gradually becomes real.
The novel became a bestseller after its 2021 release, with Penguin Random House describing it as an “instant New York Times bestseller” and a TikTok sensation. It also has an unusual origin. Hazelwood originally wrote the story as Star Wars fan fiction centred on Rey and Kylo Ren before developing it into the published novel.
What changed from the book?
The film keeps Olive and Adam’s central relationship, but several supporting characters and story beats have been rearranged. One major change is Holden Rodriguez, Adam’s best friend and Olive’s friend Malcolm’s love interest. He is completely removed from the film.
His role in the novel helped bring the couple together and provided some of the lighter moments around Adam’s serious personality.
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