A Movie Review: The Preface
I might have lied by omission. In my Wall-E review I liken EVE and WALL-E to more “likable” version of Rey and Kylo Rea/Ben from the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy or “Reylo.” While I do completely understand the divisiveness of the pairing I still did and do like the pairing and have read fanfics of the of the pair. I will just add that I think one the reason I enjoyed the pairing was what more based on speculation for what the pairing could bring to the saga, which it didn’t, how the characters changed through the lens of fanfics and also Reylo reminded me of my favorite jdrama from the mid-2000s.
That being said I never read the fanfic that The Love Hypothesis is based on but I did read the book by Ali Hazelwood and it very much reads like a Reylo fanfic. I will also add that I have read three times but the most recent was ahead of the movie’s release. Which makes this a rarity for me as it one few times I have read the book prior to the movie.
While the first two times I read the book I did enjoy but I will say I enjoyed it still less on the three reread. It’s not unenjoyable, it’s entertainting enough which is fine.
But how did the movie do adapting the book?
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Introduction
I went into this movie more less blind aside from rereading the book again however didn’t know the vibe of the movie or really anything about the actors. I did know some of the lore, a reylo fanfic turned novel turned movie that cast the actress of Rey’s husband as the lead male character who also inspired the antagonist. It’s all just a little more delightful if not somewhat weird but whoever it adds a mystique.
Also I went into this movie adaptation cautious. I know film adaptions seldom follow a novel to the as written novels are it’s wholly a different medium to film with different methods of conveying information. However I wasn’t really prepare for the puzzling choices made that this film adapting the source material.
On the Subject of Anh
A weird elephant in the room is the changing the ethnicity of Ahn Pham, the lead female’s Olive’s best friend. The book as well as her own name makes it clear that the character is Vietnamese. The movie changes the character to Filipa which is the same as her actress but they kept the name the same. Either it’s a weird confusion of choice or the production thought they could do both and no one would notice but people did notice and it takes people out the movie each time the script alludes to Ahn’s movie ethnicity. That being said I did enjoy Ahn’s actress, Rachael Marsh, as well the changes to character as she more a provocateur who figured out that two leads Olive and Adam were fake-dating. But in making her savvy to the fake-dating does have implications for other changes made in the movie version.
On the Subject of an Accent
Which brings me to another nitpick that took me out the movie sometimes I had which was Tom Bateman, who plays Adam, and his American accent. I feel like he is trying so hard to maintain an American accent that it comes the expense of his acting. This is just my impression. If nothing else he does seem more robotic than in novel which could be acting choice or a directing choice.
On the Subject of Olive
Also Olive’s character is also altered. She is not as bubbly which diminishes the sunshine/grumpy trope that is very much ingrained into the charm of the novel. Olive is more self-assured and cheeky in the movie which does make her less “childish” than in she still feels at times like a different character. I’m not as made at Olive’s character getting changed, adaption to this a lot, it’s very common. I just wanted to note the change.
We’ll circle back the characters
On the Subject of Yearning or the Lack Thereof
One of the big critiques of the movie adaptation is the lack of yearning. A big parts of Adam’s characterization is that he had crush on Olive when the first met and keep the yearning to himself until she accidental kissed him. That is why he is more amendable to fake dating. He does get something out of the deal but he doing it’s for her benefit. It’s also weird that the fake-dating was his idea instead of coming about fairly organically after the rumors circulated because she accidental or randomly kissed him so sell her lie that she was dating someone so Ahn could date the guy the Olive had some history with prior. In the movie it’s a crush and in the book it was few dates that meant nothing to Olive.
The film does not showcase any of his yearning and because the movie cut his friend and confidant, Holden. The cutting of Holden made it harder for the movie to inform the audience of Adam’s inner working and also well his year’s long crush on Olive without Adam it saying himself which might have looked creepy. The movie would have showcased his yearning, infatuation, and admiration of Olive through visuals but it didn’t. They might have tried with looks and glance or holding shot with reduce speed to convey his feelings Adam when looks at Olive but that could have interrupted the “banter” and/or comedy so the movie didn’t thus no yearning and thus less romance in the narrative. Also Adam in the book was not mean to Olive he was just awkward. So Adam’s backstory is reduced to a two scenes and that he is mean but he get very little to his internal character.
Also this made Olive and Adam’s realization that they fell in love with each other more blasé. They go from awkward snide banter to liking each other without much fanfare which is less cinematic. It seems that they took the rom out the rom-com.
For record, I’m not mad that they change scenes, add scenes, and omitted scene and one character. I’m more annoyed that they change big aspect of the narrative. One might say they didn’t have the screen time but I would say no, they did they made choices to make weird changes and highlight scenes and characters in original way that took focus from the leads.
A big change is that they reason Olive reaches out to Tom, the character in the movie, and his lab at Harvard is because her advisor is retiring and thus not getting the funding for her lab that Olive needs for her thesis and research. I will not pretend to know anything about this field of academia but the change is weird. A few lines and same resolution to issue wouldn’t have allotted more screen. It just a confusion that Olive how goes to Stanford can’t fund her work but needs a lab across countries but Adam’s getting millions for his research at the same institution?
Also changing it so the reason Olive presents at the conference was change. In the book it was Olive’s accomplishment and not something Tom gave to her. Why change this? Again it adds to the confusion and wouldn’t have added screen time.
On the Subject of Tom, the Character
Speaking of Tom, the character. There were quite a lot of changes centering around Tom. Since Holden was cut any insight to Tom’s character was cut up until he drops his mask to Olive. Also the reveal was mangled. In a nutshell Tom sexually harasses Olive at the conference after her talk. It was him who called her research “trite” and “derivative” and not what random women said in the bathroom which Olive overheard. The change seems to come about due to simplifying the plot and giving way to a a trite third act break-up.
Since the movie makes big changes and then ignores their own changes there one instance concerning Tom that took me right out of the movie. So because the novel has a lot of coffee dates the movie shifts their dates to parties. It’s at one these parties that Olive tells Tom more about her research instead of at one the coffee dates. When Tom asks about a personal connection to her work in the book she tells Tom and Adam up-front about her mother while in the movie she withholds that information. So when Tom is harassing her he throws her story back in her face but in the movie she never told him about her mother death due pancreatic cancer and why she is researching earlier detection. It’s messy exchange that didn’t need to be in the movie if the movie went out of itself way for Olive not tell Tom in the first place.
On the Subject of Mess
It’s messy movie adaptation with the words “inspired by” doing a lot of heavy lifting. It does feel like someone higher up in the production hierarchy with decision making powers decided that Adam needed to be an all-round green flag and to do that he needed a slight character arc. That arc was him getting nicer to random students but this comes at the expense of romantic vibes. Also the decision to prop up Ahn’s character also lessen the romance.
A good adaptation doesn’t necessarily follow the source beat per beat, scene per scene but it should keep the spirit and core of the material it’s adapting. This adaption made Anh more important, changed Malcom so much that he was completely different character. As well as Olive and Adam being changed to be more likable for a movie. I just want to add that because Olive doesn’t tell Malcolm about the fake-dating like in the book I do wonder why they kept Malcolm over Holden a tiny bit. Holden was basically Adam’s equivalent to Anh for Olive but really the movie just botched Olive’s Malcom’s friendship. Malcom seems to only exist to be a foil to Olive and prove some fiction to Olive and Adam’s relationship because Malcom is on Adam’s researcher team and yet there a few additions with extra the provide Adam’s “Dr. Evil” reputation but not his background, inner worker or feelings other than what little he shows to Olive and this more at the end of the movie instead of throughout.
This movie might have been a little better or more successful with getting to the spirit of the novel despite all the changes if they keep Adam’s yearning intact. Again it doesn’t feel like he was in to her for a while but it felt more like they were two co-workers who got to together just because of propinquity and not because they were like super into each other. The actors do try to make up for the script wanting to be more about friendships than romance but there is only so much that they can do with the choices the production made for this adaptation. All in all I wanted to feel more of the romances set in science academia.
In Conclusion
It’s hard to say if this movie is for book fans or if it’s more geared for non-books readers outside of academia but the popularity of the book is why it got made into a movie in the first place. Enjoyment of the adaptation is varied but if you can separate the novel’s story and the book ‘s story you might enjoy them more of their own merits. I do maintain a position that any changes made to work in a medium should keep to the overall spirit and tone of the work.
I won’t say that I hated the movie version of The Love Hypothesis, it’s has its moment but ultimately it’s middling. I did it liked way more than the ninth Star Wars movie. I would happily rewatch The Love Hypothesis over the Rise of Skywalker any day.
I hesitate to suggest that a live-action might have not been the best medium for this novel to be adapted into or maybe it’s just the stylistic and acting conventions of American rom-coms that feel like not the ideal match. For whatever reason I think the novel being adapted to into visual medium that allows for more expressiveness and animation of characters could have worked a little better for this story. Maybe then the seeming restraint of “realism” in movies could have given way to more of a romantic vibe complete with the sense of yearning in the novel. Ot maybe I’m not well versed in the American stylistic choices of rom-coms of the late 2020s.
I didn’t hate the movie might but I did have to pause a lot. Perhaps this movie might morph into a guilty pleasure for me in future. At least that is my hypothesis.
