Don’t write off ‘The Love Hypothesis’ as just another rom-com
Don’t write off ‘The Love Hypothesis’ as just another rom-com
Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman bring real chemistry to a fake-dating story with plenty to say about women in STEM.
It’s easy to write off rom-com movies. I’ve seen too many with tired tropes, predictable stories, and characters as flat as cardboard cutouts. And that’s why it’s so refreshing when you get something different. Something a little smarter, a little deeper, and much more powerful. That’s “The Love Hypothesis.” It’s not that no one is watching it — it hit No. 1 on Prime Video, powered by the fandom around the best-selling book it’s based on. It’s that the people who haven’t seen it yet may be writing it off because it IS a rom-com. Don’t. It’s a rom-com, yes, but it’s also a great movie with plenty to say. Here’s why I think “The Love Hypothesis” is the best under-the-radar drama on Prime Video right now.
Best under-the-radar drama movie on Prime Video
Why ‘The Love Hypothesis’ is the most underrated drama movie on Prime Video
First, the premise. On the surface, it doesn’t scream original. Lili Reinhart plays Olive Smith, a Stanford Ph.D. candidate who impulsively kisses intimidating professor Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman) to convince her best friend Anh (Rachel Marsh) that she’s over an old crush. That awkward moment turns into a fake-dating arrangement that benefits both Olive and Adam. Olive hopes if Anh sees her with a boyfriend, she’ll be free to date Olive’s old crush. And Adam hopes that if the brass at Stanford see him with a girlfriend, they’ll no longer consider him a flight risk and release his research funding.
So yes, it has the classic “let’s pretend to date but whoooops now I have feelings” setup. What’s different about it is the world it takes place in: academia. Rarely do you get to see smart, competent women going after big audacious goals in an academic setting. Or the institutional sexism they face in STEM careers. Stanford isn’t just the rom-com setting — it has something to say about the female experience in these male-dominated worlds.
The other reason I found it so refreshing is the friendship between Anh and Olive. Because while the love story obviously is meant to have you swooning, it’s this friendship that is the real point. These two women are in it together. There’s no manufactured fight between them for conflict’s sake. They support each other, want the best for each other, and ultimately it’s Anh who steps up for Olive when Adam lets her down. She’s not the tropey “ethnic best friend” that Tara and I see all the time, with no goals, no sexuality, and no personality other than a sounding board for the lead’s feelings. Anh is super competent, funny, and fleshed out to be a real person. We loved that.
Finally, the love story itself. The chemistry between Reinhart and Bateman is excellent. And the movie takes full advantage of Bateman’s deadpan, no-nonsense delivery. He’s laugh-out-loud funny through much of the movie. It’s rare for a rom-com to be emotionally moving, dramatic, and genuinely funny all at once. This one pulls it off. And Reinhart is perfectly cast. She reads smart, competent, driven, but awkward just when you want her to be. The love scenes are steamy, too, for those wondering… So if you’re writing this one off as just another rom-com, don’t. It’s much better than that. And you can watch it with a 30-day free trial of Prime Video, so you can’t lose!
The Love Hypothesis
Olive Smith, a biology PhD candidate, and Dr. Adam Carlsen, a hotshot professor and well-known tyrant, enter into a fake relationship, seeing each of their carefully calculated theories on love get thrown into chaos.
Watch the trailer for ‘The Love Hypothesis’
Other underappreciated drama movies on Prime Video
If you watch “The Love Hypothesis” and want more romance, Prime Video has plenty. “You, Me & Tuscany” stars Halle Bailey as an aspiring chef who winds up pretending to be engaged while staying at an Italian villa, only to fall for the owner’s cousin (Regé-Jean Page).
“The Last Sunrise” follows a college student spending the summer in Mallorca who falls for a local while dealing with a serious illness.
And “You+Me - Against the World” centers on an aspiring filmmaker who falls for a rebellious classmate while the two are forced to make a student film together.
Prime Video
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