The Love Hypothesis is on Prime Video, and the fake dating trope is doing exactly what it was born to do. Olive Smith and Adam Carlsen are the academic power couple nobody saw coming, mostly because they weren’t a couple at all. That’s the whole point. Olive and Adam’s fake relationship is the engine that drives the entire movie, and it works because the lie is so specific.
Here’s the setup. Olive is a third-year biology PhD candidate at Stanford. Her best friend Anh has a crush on Jeremy, who Olive used to date. Anh won’t make a move out of loyalty. So Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees in the hallway. That man is Dr. Adam Carlsen, a professor so terrifying students call him “Dr. Evil.” He agrees to play along. The Olive and Adam’s fake relationship is born out of mutual desperation. Olive needs Anh to believe she’s moved on. Adam needs his university to believe he’s stable enough to keep funding his lab.
It’s a transaction. It’s supposed to be temporary. It’s not. Lili Reinhart plays Olive with the right mix of awkward charm and stubborn pride. Tom Bateman plays Adam like a man who hasn’t smiled since 2014 and isn’t planning to start now. Together, they sell the lie. The coffee dates. The lingering stares. The sunscreen scene that will make you want to crawl out of your own skin. The Olive and Adam’s fake relationship works because both characters are bad at lying and worse at admitting the truth.
The movie streamlines a lot of the book. Certain fake dating moments are cut. Adam’s best friend Holden is completely absent. The film moves at a sprint, hitting the classic rom-com beats without lingering. That’s the trade-off. The Olive and Adam’s fake relationship escalates faster on screen than on the page, which means the emotional payoff lands harder but the buildup feels rushed. If you’ve read the book, you’ll notice what’s missing. If you haven’t, you’ll wonder why the third act breakup feels like it came out of nowhere.
The answer is timing. The film gives the fake relationship about forty-five minutes before it pivots to real feelings, a harassment subplot, and a public confrontation that goes viral. It’s a lot. But the core dynamic holds. Adam is grumpy. Olive is sunshine. They make each other worse before they make each other better.
Is it as good as the book? No. Is it a charming way to spend an evening? Sure. The Olive and Adam’s fake relationship is the kind of rom-com premise that writes itself. The movie doesn’t reinvent it. It just lets two actors with real chemistry do the work.
The Love Hypothesis is streaming on Prime Video. Watch it for the sunscreen scene. Stay for the fake dating magic.
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