The Love Hypothesis

"Fake dating. Real chemistry."

2026 1h 52m EN

🙌

8.0

BANGER

👌

METACRITIC

★8.0TMDB · 540●67Metacritic

RomanceComedy

Synopsis

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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.

“Fake dating. Real chemistry.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Lili Reinhart
Olive Smith
Tom Bateman
Dr. Adam Carlsen
Rachel Marsh
Anh Pham
Jaboukie Young-White
Malcolm Browne
Nicholas Duvernay
Jeremy Langley
Arty Froushan
Dr. Tom Benton
Jeananne Goossen
Dr. Juliet Aslan
Aladeen Tawfeek
Dr. Eugene Fastuca

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Claire Scanlon
Writers: Sarah Rothschild
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released this year — you're seeing it while it's still in the cultural conversation.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Love Hypothesis Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Claire Scanlon, shot by Matthew Clark. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Laura Karpman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Tia Nolan shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman and Rachel Marsh carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Fake dating. Real chemistry.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt22526100 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Claire Scanlon directs. Matthew Clark behind the camera. Laura Karpman scores. Tia Nolan cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released this year — you're seeing it while it's still in the cultural conversation.
2Part of the "The Love Hypothesis Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
3Directed by Claire Scanlon, shot by Matthew Clark. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Laura Karpman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Tia Nolan shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman and Rachel Marsh carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Fake dating. Real chemistry.".
8IMDB entry: tt22526100 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 11 themes, including "based on novel or book", "professor", "romcom", "love".

The technical file

Cinematography: Matthew Clark
Original score: Laura Karpman
Editing: Tia Nolan
Production design: Brent Thomas
Costume design: Myriam Hanahem
Makeup / hair: Colleen Quinton
VFX supervisor: Harrison Marks
Sound: Onnalee Blank
Stunt coordinator: David McKeown
Runtime: 112 min · 1h 52m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Love Hypothesis (2026)
Metacritic: 67/100
MPAA: R

Part of

The Love Hypothesis Collection

A biology PhD candidate and 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.

Also by

Claire Scanlon

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Community reviews

What people are saying

euron_legends2026-09-27
Amazon MGM Studios seems to have found an area where it works pretty well: adapting young adult romances that already come with an established community behind them. The Love Hypothesis is another example. The film, directed by Claire Scanlon, adapts Ali Hazelwood's novel, which also has a pretty interesting origin: it started out as fan fiction and eventually became a New York Times bestseller. The story follows Olive Smith (Lili Reinhart), a brilliant PhD student who has a much clearer idea of where she wants to take her scientific career than what she wants from her love life. Everything changes after an impulsive kiss leads to a fake relationship with Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman), a professor known for his difficult personality. And from there, the movie knows exactly what it wants to be. What I liked most is that it doesn't try to hide the fact that this is a romance. It doesn't seem embarrassed by its intimate scenes or try to make them completely sanitized just to fit a platform. The movie lets its characters be adults, lets there be genuine attraction between them, and gives that part of their relationship real weight within the story. But above all, it works because of its leads. Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman have a chemistry that makes the relationship believable. There are moments when you simply buy the fact that these two characters are into each other, and that may sound basic, but in a romance, it's probably one of the most important things. The critical reception has also been pretty positive, with 86% of reviews being favorable on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing. I don't think The Love Hypothesis is reinventing anything. It doesn't need to. It's a movie that understands exactly what kind of story it wants to tell and, for now, seems pretty comfortable telling it without apologizing for being a romance.

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