“The Love Hypothesis,” yet another movie about a fake relationship that turns real, has one line in particular that made me wonder if I was watching a sendup of the genre: “You’re edible,” a man says as he slips off a woman’s underwear.
In this wildly inane film directed by Claire Scanlon, an insecure graduate student in biology, Olive Smith (Lili Reinhart), impulsively kisses the dull Dr. Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman), to prove a point to her friend Anh (Rachel Marsh).
With his mechanical deadpan delivery, Adam, known as “Dr. Evil” because he’s such a harsh professor, is more pod person than flustered undercover lover.
Olive continues to go along with this scheme so that Anh knows she has moved on from Jeremy (Nicholas Duvernay), whom Anh has a crush on. The movie, based on a romance novel by Ali Hazelwood, establishes Olive and Anh’s friendship immediately then all but drops that bond, an omission that fits the film’s inability to commit to much, including a consistent tone.
Gestures toward female empowerment are made explicit through moments like when Jeremy corrects himself after calling women “girls.” At the same time, it suggests that Olive needs a man to help her feel capable of succeeding.
As for the script, it needs no lab exam to know it fails at least one true test: to feel human. “We’d need to collect new samples,” says Adam once true love actualizes. Olive’s response: “Contain the variables this time.”
The Love Hypothesis Rated R for language, brief nudity and painfully unsexy dialogue. 1 hour 50 minutes. Watch on Prime Video.
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