A scientist’s “worst mistake is a false positive — thinking something’s happening when it isn’t.” But in the official trailer for Prime Video’s upcoming film adaptation of Ali Hazelwood’s bestseller The Love Hypothesis, starring Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman, the platform explores what happens when there is actually something happening between two people in their own unexpected experiment.
The Love Hypothesis, directed by Claire Scanlon, follows Olive (Reinhart), “a brilliant Ph.D. candidate focused on her future in academia. But when she realizes her best friend Ahn (Rachel Marsh) has fallen for her crush Jeremy (Nicholas Duvernay), Olive impulsively kisses intimidating professor Adam Carlsen (Bateman) to prove she’s moved on.”
In the trailer, Reinhart‘s Olive is shown spontaneously kissing Bateman‘s Adam — a notable Easter egg to the book cover of Hazelwood‘s bestseller — so her best friend Ahn can see them. Despite the initial awkwardness, Olive and Adam later agree to fake date to ensure Ahn will pursue things with her crush Jeremy, someone Olive once had a crush on, now knowing Olive has since moved on. Meanwhile, Adam notes the fake dating scheme could benefit him given Stanford may not be renewing his grant because they consider him a “flight risk.“
“A serious girlfriend might change their minds,” he tells Olive.
Their unexpected pairing shocks their peers, especially given Adam is known as “Dr. Evil“ and someone who is believed to have no “real human emotions.“ But even though “what begins as a desperate act of friendship spirals into a fake relationship with rules, boundaries, and a mutually beneficial agreement,“ the lines begin to blur for Olive and Adam on what is and isn‘t real when it comes to their dynamic and feelings.
Sarah Rothschild pens the screenplay with Elizabeth Cantillon producing. Jaboukie Young-White and Arty Froushan also star in the Amazon MGM film.
While talking about the film at Obsessed Fest in June, which was livestreamed on Prime Video’s TikTok, Reinhart and Bateman reflected on their chemistry read, their characters and what it was like bringing the popular book to life.
“We all want to see a lot more love than hate and this is that. I think it’s beautiful and hopefully feels timeless and feels like a movie you can go back and watch with your friends and swoon over,” Reinhart said of the film. Bateman shared the same sentiments and noted the book was “always front and center” for them while filming to ensure the spirit of the story was translated.
The Love Hypothesis will stream globally on Prime Video on Sept. 23.
