TechRadar Review: The Love Hypothesis Is a Safe Rom-Com Whose Best Romance Is Friendship
TechRadar's review of Prime Video's The Love Hypothesis calls it a largely basic but sincere rom-com, arguing that Olive and Anh's friendship is the film's strongest love story.
The movie stars Lili Reinhart as Olive, a third-year biology PhD candidate at Stanford researching early pancreatic cancer detection, and Tom Bateman as Adam, described in the review as an evil doctor whose character takes time to become tolerable. Rachel Marsh plays Anh. To convince Anh that she has moved on from a crush, Olive impulsively kisses Adam in a lab hallway. The two then make a mutually beneficial agreement to fake date each other, though the arrangement does not stay fake for long. TechRadar says the story beats are predictable and that viewers can correctly guess where the film will end.
TechRadar says The Love Hypothesis checks the rom-com boxes and will likely please fans of the original novel. It praises the ensemble cast, Reinhart's performance, and the film's sincerity about women in STEM. The review confirms that the highly anticipated hotel room scene is hot, with natural chemistry between the leads, though it is not the most explicit or sexiest moment in a movie the critic has seen.
The review criticizes the film as painfully basic in obvious ways, with an underwhelming soundtrack for a Prime Video project and Adam's character taking a while to become tolerable. It describes the direction, narrative and soundtrack as evidence that the movie largely plays it safe. Even so, TechRadar says the journey from start to finish is fun, understanding and convincingly sincere.
The review argues that the central relationship should have been the friendship between Olive and Anh. It says Olive fake-dates someone so her best friend can pursue a man without crossing a boundary, and that neither woman compromises her intelligence, dedication to her future career, or identity to fit in with a man or university social norms. TechRadar says this friendship is the film's most enriching love story and hopes viewers take away that friendships can be the greatest romances.
Editor's Summary TechRadar's review says The Love Hypothesis on Prime Video is a safe, predictable rom-com that will likely satisfy book fans and includes a strong hotel room scene, but its most compelling relationship is the platonic bond between Olive and Anh. The review highlights Lili Reinhart's performance and the film's sincere treatment of women in STEM while criticizing its basic execution and underwhelming soundtrack. It concludes that the movie's most valuable love story is one of friendship.