We are counting the days until we get to see Olive Smith (Lili Reinhart) and Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman) fall in love in the film adaptation of Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis! A fake-dating romance set in the world of STEM academia? Yes, please!
Olive is a Ph.D student in biology at Stanford, while Adam is the young and accomplished (but antagonistic) professor in the same department. Just the metaphor of chemistry in the lab and chemistry in romance is fantastic. Plus, the success of Hazelwood’s 2021 novel makes sense. It’s that good. The road to love for Olive and Adam is full of moments we want to relive over and over.
With the film, we’ll get to do that in cinematic form! My anticipation could not be higher. So many scenes in the novel stick with the reader, and we honestly want to see the entire book on screen! Adaptations have to make changes, though. So we want to talk about the moments that have to make the transfer from page to screen. Here are the 6 book scenes we need in The Love Hypothesis!
MORE: Remember when we got the casting news for The Love Hypothesis? Our post talked all about it!
The First Kiss
Let’s begin with the moment that sets everything in motion. Olive needs to convince her friend Anh (Rachel Marsh) that she’s dating someone, so Anh will feel free to pursue Jeremy (Nicholas Duvernay), a guy Olive went on a few dates with. So when Olive spots Anh heading toward her in the lab one night — on an evening she’s supposedly out on a date — she does the only thing she can think of, she grabs the nearest man and kisses him, right where Anh can see. And that man, of course, is Adam.
This kiss is so iconic it landed on the cover of the book, and for good reason. It’s funny, it tells us exactly who Olive and Adam are, and it puts their chemistry front and center. The film version has to be just as memorable — and based on the teaser trailer, it will be. Reinhart and Bateman look like they nail every beat of it. I especially love the added detail of Adam reading Olive’s name off her badge and letting it snap back. Something tells me these two are going to hook viewers instantly and have them rooting for Olive and Adam from the very first frame.
Truck Pushing
Every romance worth its salt needs a thirst moment. It needs a moment when one of the lead characters, and therefore the audience, notices the physical attractiveness of the other lead character (usually male). When this kind of scene is well-executed, the characters and audience can savor the sexual tension. The Love Hypothesis offers an example of this when Adam pushes a stalled truck out of the way while Olive and her friends watch. Yep, he actually PUSHES A TRUCK.
I know the moment when Olive puts sunscreen on Adam at Anh’s encouragement has thirst potential, too. (I mean, Adam is shirtless for that one!) But I’m going for this scene because Adam is being helpful, which makes him even more attractive and fleshes out his character. It shows that he’s a much nicer guy than most people realize. Olive explicitly notices Adam’s body for the first time here, and the moment is even capped off with another fake kiss. (Again, at Anh’s insistence. Thank you for your service, Anh!) I hope the film includes all the thirst moments the audience can handle! And that includes Adam pushing a truck.
MORE: The news of the release date for The Love Hypothesis had us excited! Read our post all about it!
Drinking “Sludge”
As part of their fake dating arrangement, Olive and Adam meet for coffee every Wednesday, where he gently chides her over her love for pumpkin spice-flavored drinks. (He calls it “sludge.”) These scenes slowly escalate to other days of the week and they are important to the love story. They strengthen their connection to each other and provide humor.
I hope more than one of these makes it into the final cut of the film, and a glimpse in the teaser trailer proves that at least one did. One that includes a forehead kiss!
Scenes like this are the building blocks of a romance. It’s when the leads get to know each other, it’s when character details are filled in for the audience, and it’s when their chemistry builds. I love that most of the rom-com banter between Olive and Adam happens during these scenes. Any version of these fake dates will be welcome in the film, though the one I like best is when they go get their flu shots because it made me laugh the most. As long as Reinhart and Bateman have a chance to show off their chemistry and be strong scene partners to each other, I’ll take all the Fake Dating Wednesday scenes I can get!
The Love Scene
Part of what makes a romance novel qualify for that genre is the sex scenes. When the sexy times work, the love story becomes that much more memorable. The Love Hypothesis delivers spice that works.
To keep up the charade of their fake relationship, Olive and Adam share a hotel room for a science conference, and when Olive needs a distraction, she initiates some physical bonding. I love how Olive and Adam are clear about consent and the way their desire for each other is depicted.
Though Hazelwood wrote the novel from only Olive’s POV, the paperback edition adds a bonus version of this scene from Adam’s POV. I’m looking forward to finding out how director Claire Scanlon and screenwriter Sarah Rothschild used this source material.
The physical aspect of a romance on screen can add another layer that makes the love story even more satisfying, and I’m crossing my fingers that this film does that. The NSFW couple of seconds featured in the teaser trailer certainly had me fanning myself!
Support From Friends
One thing that can make the romance genre even better is good representation of friendships. The novel does this for both Olive and Adam, and there is a particular scene where Olive’s friends support her that needs to be in the film.
A major plot point of the novel involves Tom (Arty Froushan), a friend of Adam’s, coming onto Olive and then insulting her when she rejects him. And he doesn’t just insult her work. He tells her Adam will never believe her if she tells him. Thankfully, she accidentally recorded the whole thing. When Olive’s friends, Anh and Malcolm (Jaboukie Young-White), find out, they rally around her. Their sadness and anger on her behalf make this a memorable and effective emotional beat. They show her incredible support, helping her get through a terrible and, sadly, all too common situation. Exploring sexual harassment is the kind of substance that adds heft to a story.
We love when romances make us laugh, but the heavier emotions can be important, too. This scene is the kind of moment that makes angst work, and I am anxious to see the film version.
MORE: We’re watching the teaser trailer for The Love Hypothesis on repeat! Read about the momentous day of it’s release!
Adam vs Tom
A good fight scene in a rom-com can really work. (Remember how hilarious the one in Bridget Jones’ Diary is?) This one, when Adam finds out what his friend Tom did to Olive, is not a comedic beat, but it is still satisfying.
Adam’s reaction when he hears the recording is immediate and telling. He calls Olive “the woman I love” when he’s threatening Tom. Then, after Olive stops the fight, Adam goes straight to her, apologizing even though he’s not the one to blame. This moment is about Adam’s feelings for Olive. His focus on her illustrates what romances are all about. It’s also about Tom facing consequences for what he did, and who wouldn’t cheer for that?
There is not a lot of physical fighting in this confrontation on the page, and the film has the chance to go bigger with it. They could add a humorous tone if they want. Or the filmmakers could also craft something great by being more faithful to the book. Either way, the conflict climaxes in this scene, so the film has to handle it in some way. I hope the end result stays focused on Adam and Olive and has us all swooning!
So, what do you think? Have we singled out the scenes that the film version of The Love Hypothesis needs the most? Or are there others that we missed? Let us know in the comments!
The Love Hypothesis premieres on Prime Video on September 23.
