There is nothing more exciting than your favourite book becoming a movie – now you can relive the magic of the book in only a couple of hours. However, many book adaptations fail to please the BookTok (Book Tiktok) community.
The Love Hypothesis, Ali Hazelwood’s romance novel released in 2021, had its own movie adaptation air on Amazon Prime in September of 2026. The important question, however, is whether it was able to live up to the fans’ expectations.
After its release, The Love Hypothesis quickly became a fan favourite on BookTok and Good Reads, averaging a 4 out of 5-star rating. The book is loved for many reasons, ranging from “[hitting] the comedy bit out of the park” to fans stating that “women in STEM are underrepresented and it was refreshing to see Olive… making a difference with her research on pancreatic cancer”.
One of the most mentioned changes in the movie is aspects of Adam’s character. Adam is known as one of BookTok’s book boyfriends, making it very important for his on-screen character to be portrayed well.
It was a poor decision to completely cut out Holden Rodrigues, Adam’s longtime best friend. The presence of Holden in the book was an essential part of Adam’s character as it showed that there was more depth to Adam than Olive knew. Holden had an outgoing, positive personality and the idea of him being friends with Adam for decades meant there must be a different side of Adam underneath his unapproachable mask.
The movie stayed true to the dynamic of Olive and Adam, however Adam’s teasing personality in the book brought more life to their interactions. It makes sense that Adam was rigid around Olive in the movie considering in the book he was secretly in love with her for years. This isn’t necessarily a bad change, but the love confession at the end should have been delayed further considering there were no prior feelings.
Not all changes in the movie were negatively impactful. With Malcolm not knowing in the movie that it was a fake relationship, it brought a higher level of unexpected turmoil which isn’t explored in the book. The extra turbulence comes from Malcolm’s hatred for Adam, which Olive doesn’t consider prior to agreeing to fake dating. This adds chaos for Olive and gives her opportunities to regret her decision.
Furthermore, Anh and Olive’s relationship is explored deeper in the movie which allows the audience to understand the stakes for Olive. The decision for Anh to know in the movie that it is fake dating, despite not being told, was an excellent choice as it reveals the sister-like bond between Anh and Olive.
Lastly, Olive liking Jeremy in the movie was a good change but the effects of the change were not dealt with accordingly. Olive described liking Jeremy as feeling “electric”, which is not an emotion that just disappears when fake dating a professor you don’t even like. Perhaps further exploring Olive’s feelings going away would have made it more realistic.
On Letterboxd, The Love Hypothesis film gained an average of 3 out of 5-stars. The reviews are conflicting. Some viewers described the movie as a “perfectly adorable, dorky romcom”, while others “could not be convinced that [Olive and Adam] formed a connection” and argued that Adam “kinda sucks the whole time.” The negative reviews emphasise the destructive decision to remove Holden Rodrigues and minimise Adam’s teasing. Overall, the book and movie are both excellent and excel compared to others in their genre. It can be argued that the film was not a great success of a book adaptation as there were many changes that affected multiple relational dynamics. However, when judging the movie separate from the book, it can be considered a good film
Hayden Price 
Finn Wilson 
Elizabeth Griffin