The Love Analysis
The Love Hypothesis Movie Review
I am safe to assume most people if not all who read this post are fully aware of the premise of this movie and its creation, but just to be certain, I’ll give it to you anyway.
(No Spoilers)
The Premise: A Ph.D student, Olive Smith (Lili Reinhart) must convice her friend, Anh, to go out with someone that Olive has previously liked. The best way to do this is to kiss a stranger, Dr. Adam Carlsen or Dr. “Evil” (Tom Bateman). They both ultimately agree to try the ole fake-dating scenario for their own personal goals: Olive to show Anh that she can date her old crush, and Dr. Adam to convince the university that he has personal roots planted and he can get funding for his research.
The Lore: I was excited for this movie for two main reasons: I love rom-coms and I love Lili Reinhart. BUT to completely comprehend the reason behind the surge in popoularity behind this title is quite hilarious.
(Clears throat) It started out as “Reylo” fanfiction. The “Reylo” ship name is a fusion between Kylo Ren and Rey from the sequel trilogy of Star Wars that was released by Disney from 2015–2019. The story was originally published Head Over Feet with Kylo and Rey in a university setting before being officially rewritten. But not only that, the characters draw even more attention by their names. Rey is played by Daisy Ridley, a British actress mostly known for her work in the sequel trilogy (other works incl. Chaos Walking, Murder on the Orient Express, Ophelia). Kylo Ren is played by Adam Driver (This is Where I Leave You, Logan Lucky, What If, Marriage Story, etc.). This is important becuase the love interest’s name is Adam and the so called “bad guy” or “antagonist” of the film is named Tom Benton, named after Daisy Ridley’s real life husband. Can you guess his actual name? Tom Bateman. Tom Bateman, the man who is her real life husband, is playing the love interest while the antagonist of the film is based off of Tom Bateman himself. Quite full circle and a hilarious conversation starter on the press tour I’m sure.
Simple enough, now let’s dig into the movie review.
What I Like: It’s straight forward. There wasn’t anything necessarily fresh on this ‘fake-dating’ trope, but it wasn’t beating around the bush either trying to be. The plot was simple and sweet within the first five minutes of the movie and easy for everyone to grab. I was beyond hoping we wouldn’t get “second screen writing” for this film. I’m glad to say that was the case. It didn’t repeat the plot over and over for people scrolling on their phones, but it wasn’t going off social cues in Tom and Lili’s acting either. Nothing was overplayed, thus nothing got annoying, which in a romcom can be distracting and take you out of the film.
Did I mention that I love Lili Reinhart? She is one of the few actors/actresses that if she is in the film, I’m watching it. I don’t care about reviews, premise, who else is in it, or how long or short it is. I am watching the film. Ever since Riverdale, I’ve been in the Lili reinhart fan club, and this movie added to the love. The outfits were precious and the adorable subtly in her emotions portrayed were shining through every single moment on screen. I can’t deem anything accurate to the book on the account that I did not read the book, but I thought it was brilliantly portrayed. Olive was kind, a little quirky, and had a soft spot for the right people. The benefit of women being written by women. I truly believed Lili was born to play this role, but that is me being bias becuase I don’t think she has ever been miscast which probably isn’t the most reliable analysis when it comes to every movie in existence. Lili really lit up the screen and her lovable and attractive personality bounced off of Olive through my television screen and I was overjoyed it did. This film was a soft hug after a tough day at school and Lili is the main reason.
Tom Bateman, congratulations! You’ve succesfully made your way onto my rewatch list. I thought the portrayal of the “Dr. Evil” was good. Not great, but decent enough to where the dialogue delivered hit its mark at the times it was supposed to. The body language exuding from Tom through Dr. Carlsen was even more hilarious. Tom Bateman carried the comedy aspect of this film. As quirky and lovable Olive was, Dr. Carlsen (Tom Bateman) was unparalleled in the aspects of hilarity that ensued in the film. Tom and Lili played off each other so well, as someone who has been and graduated from college, there were always rumors and stories from classmates and alike of someone like Dr. Carlsen on campus. I wasn’t a Ph.D student, but you can grasp some professors that are the montone, tell you how it is straight to your face good or bad type with no regard for the emotions of others thinking it’ll benefit them in the long run. The fact that Dr. Carlsen didn’t care made it better. Swell done.
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The costume design and sound. I’m talking music and wardrobe (which is what I should’ve said in the first sentence). Since the movie is based off of a book that’s based off of the author’s own fanfiction of Kylo Ren and Rey, it made it ten times better knowing that Dr. Carlsen wore all black the entire film (representing Kylo’s wardrobe in the Star Wars sequel trilogy). And every time he was shown walking, shoulder back, chest out, a dark and ominous orchestral piece was played to even represent the dark side of the movie (and the dark side of the force, another call to Star Wars). I may not read fanfiction, but I LOVE STAR WARS, so this movie has my respect. Beautiful callbacks and they payed off paying homge to the source material.
What I Didn’t Like: The conflict didn’t seem urgent. I felt a slimy way about the build up of the antagonist through the film, but it’s payoff was a little lackluster. I wanted more added to the spice I was getting from the movie, but it felt more of a C-plot when it should be the B-plot. The ultimate love confession and climax is supposed to come from a passing comment and ultimatum by a low tier pathetic excuse of a man/scientist/researcher. I’m not saying that conflict doesn’t come up or couldn’t happen because it probably does and is a HUGE deal, but because we are emotionally mature people, the conflict was solved real quick and didn’t offer any suspense. It is a romcom, you know the ending, but please be a little more dramatic. To reiterate, I’m not saying the conflict brought up, that was a deciding factor for Dr. Adam and Olive wasn’t big, it just felt thrown in to really act as a catalyst. Which makes sense, but it didn’t add anything to the movie for me. It felt dull and the confrontation (as satisfying as it was) didn’t move me. I wasn’t excited. “That’s what you’re supposed to do,” is what I thought. No grand gesture. Which knocks this romcom down a few pegs.
I didn’t like the side characters. Usually the side characters add depth to the main characters just as much as their own actions, but in this film it felt a little flat. It was funny in one or two scenes with Anh (Rachel Marsh), Jeremy (Nicholas Duvernay), and Malcolm (Jaboukie Young-White) would try to feel out or understand Olive and Dr. Adam’s relationship, but most of the comedy came from Dr. Adam or Olive. I feel more into the film and it feels more comforting knowing that the friends can live off of the main character the same amount as the main character lives off of them, but it just ran through the scenes just to add little bits and pieces for Olive and Dr. Adam. This isn’t a critique of how the writer should’ve done differently, it is just my opinion that the friends feel less than just side characters. They were background people working in some of the main story instead of being part of the story to me.
What I Felt/Didn’t Feel: It was comfotable. It was cozy and a little enjoyable. I didn’t feel the little goosebumps. I didn’t feel that overwhelming sense of accomplishment at the end. I failed to reach the giggly, kicking my feet on the phone sort of feeling, which is what I want a romcom to do, especially with Lili. Came close, but never reached the mark. It was alright.
Summary: I like the move. I do not love it. I will remember this movie, but probably not recommend it, unless you love Lili Reinhart.
Suggestions: If you want to match the cheesiness of the film and maybe want to take it up another lovel try Can’t Buy Me Love (1987) or Anyone But You (2023) for a modern fake-dating overthetop comedy
If you want a more complete romcom that fits within the same subgenre try Easy A (2010) or the better version To All the Boys I Loved Before (2018)
If you want the best fake dating romcom of all time, look no further Pretty Woman (1990)
Rewatch Ability: 1.9/5
I’ll rewatch it, but it’ll be bakground noise.
Enjoyability: 4.9/11
I expected more from this movie, especially with my bias for Lili, but there was just too much I wanted from that I didn’t recieve. I raised my expectations and I knew better.
