12 Biggest ‘Love Hypothesis’ Book-to-Movie Changes, Explained
The Love Hypothesis has arrived in all its glory, much to the delight of rom-com fans and Ali Hazelwood readers alike. Hazelwood has cultivated a dedicated following since her debut novel of the same name was released in 2021, so we have no doubt fans will be quick to clock all the differences between the movie and the book, including a missing character, shortened scenes, and totally new scenes. (Warning: Spoilers for The Love Hypothesis ahead.)
Swooon, for one, spent one viewing of The Love Hypothesis basking in the Olive (Lili Reinhart) and Adam’s (Tom Bateman) on-screen chemistry before watching it again to compare the movie and its source material. The basics are the same: Stanford PhD student Olive and professor Adam Carlsen agree to fake date. Olive needs to convince her bestie she’s over her ex, while Adam needs the Stanford faculty to believe he’s not a flight risk to get funding.
Like the book, Olive and Adam go on a journey that makes them fall deeply for each other. The end goal is the same, but there are switch-ups along the way. Keep reading for the biggest book differences we spotted in the adaptation.
Jeremy and Olive’s history
The book tells rather than shows how Olive meets classmates Anh (Rachel Marsh), Malcolm (Jaboukie Young-White), and Jeremy (Nicholas Duvernay) during her early years at Stanford. The movie, on the other hand, gives us a glimpse of the gang’s early grad school days. During that sequence, Olive’s crush on Jeremy is revealed, and via voiceover, Olive says she was so burnt out from school that she didn’t realize Jeremy was actually interested in Anh.
Despite getting Olive’s go-ahead in the present day, Anh is hesitant to start anything with Jeremy because of Olive’s past feelings. Girl code, she explains. That’s a total departure from the book. Anh is reluctant to act on her feelings for Jeremy because he’s Olive’s ex, rather than crush. If you ask us, Anh’s pause in dating Jeremy makes a little more sense in that case.
How long Adam’s had a thing for Olive
Thankfully, the movie includes Adam and Olive’s sort-of — because Olive doesn’t clock who Adam is with her expired contacts — first meet-cute. It plays out almost exactly as in the book, except Adam doesn’t learn Olive’s name. In the book, Olive surprises him with their first kiss, and Adam calls her by her name, which she doesn’t register.
Why does Adam remember who Olive is literally years after their one and only interaction? Because he’s been wanting to ask her out ever since. Adam’s friend and colleague later tells Olive that Adam talked about someone he’s wanted to date for years, and he’s glad Adam finally did it. Olive doesn’t realize that it’s her until Adam confesses toward the end of the book.
The movie switches things up by having Adam mention their bathroom meeting at about the midway point, before the conference. At no point is it ever implied that Adam was interested in Olive prior to their fake dating scheme. So, he isn’t yearning quite as hard in the adaptation.
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Chapter 16 and Olive’s demisexuality
The famous Chapter 16. Well, we should say Chapters 15, 16, and 17, because that’s how long Olive and Adam’s first time plays out in the book. The movie tames down their love scene quite a bit. W e’re going to dive into the important conversation they have midway that’s missing from the movie.
Adam notices that Olive’s tense, so he pauses. She explains that she’s inexperienced with sex and only feels attraction to people she trusts and likes, and Adam is one of them. Olive’s demisexuality isn’t labeled, but it’s implied. Then, what happens in the movie is almost exactly what happens in the book, though the proceedings are noticeably shorter. Plus, Adam’s “you can take it” line is missing. RIP.
It’s worth noting that Olive’s demisexuality is acknowledged at a different point in the movie. In the early days of her “dating” Adam, Malcolm says, “I’m just happy you’re getting laid. It’s rough out here for you demisexuals.” Olive asks what it means, and Malcolm explains. Olive assumes that everyone is looking for a deeper connection when they have sex with someone, which he assures her is not the case.
Who knows about the fake dating plot
Fairly early in the book, Olive lets Malcolm in on the fake dating scheme, whereas no such thing happens in the movie. What’s more, in the final act of the movie, Anh surprises Olive by saying she knew all along. She explains that she’s a scientist whose job it is to observe, and she’s Olive’s best friend, so how could she not catch on? Anh decides not to tell Olive because she thinks if she lets it play out, Olive and Adam will fall for each other. Lo and behold, she’s right!
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Olive’s panel at the conference
In the movie, Tom (Arty Froushan) offers Olive a spot at the Boston conference to formally make her proposal. He’s on the board, and Olive wonders if he’s only doing it because she’s Adam’s girlfriend. In the source material, Tom isn’t involved with Olive speaking at the conference, though he does approach her there to sexually harass her. (Yep, he’s just as evil in the book as he is in the movie.)
Dr. Fastuca’s cocktail party
Adam ropes Olive into going with him to Fastuca’s cocktail party, a scene entirely original to the movie. Olive making her pitch in front of the whole faculty, and lying that Adam is afraid of spiders? Totally new. One thing that remains more or less the same in both the movie and book is that Olive gets mad at Adam for being too harsh with his students. That makes the cocktail party tense for the two of them. In the book, however, that argument goes down (and is resolved) before the picnic.
Adam’s nickname
The movie’s characters call Adam “Dr. Evil” every five minutes, but that’s not the case in the book. We dig it, regardless.
Olive and Adam’s ending
The adaptation sees Olive and Anh becoming Stanford professors alongside Adam during a two-year flash-forward. No such thing happens in the book, which ends on the one-year anniversary of their first kiss. Olive and Adam go to the lab and recreate it. But hey, as long as both endings are happy, we’re happy.
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Who initiates the third-act breakup
Of course, every rom-com needs its third-act breakup, though The Love Hypothesis movie goes about it differently than the book. The morning after Olive and Adam’s first time at the conference, Tom finds Adam in the hotel lobby. Tom is going to offer the spot on his Harvard research team to Olive, and he says he needs to make sure Olive is totally invested in the work — she can’t be preoccupied with him. Thinking he’s doing what’s best for her, Adam lets their “scheme” run its course and ghosts Olive. Thankfully, Anh makes him realize he needs to win her back and reveals the truth about Tom’s ultimatum.
In the book, Olive is the one to end things with Adam. After Tom harasses her, Olive shuts down their arrangement because she doesn’t want to ruin Adam’s and Tom’s friendship and research project. What’s more, Adam is applying for a spot at Harvard, unlike the movie.
Dr. Holden Rodriguez
Remember Adam’s friend who told Olive about Adam’s crush? That’s Dr. Holden Rodriguez, a fellow Stanford professor who is supportive of Olive. He also starts dating Malcolm, leading to a double date with Adam and Olive. Oh, what could’ve been.
Malcolm’s issues with Adam
Malcolm doesn’t like Adam, who’s been critical of his research, in both the movie and book. However, in the book, as soon as Olive starts dating Adam and Malcolm feels betrayed, she reveals the truth about their arrangement. They don’t have any issues from there on out, unlike the movie. Malcolm doesn’t drop out of Stanford because Adam kicks him off his research team.
How the Tom problem is resolved
In the book, Olive realizes she recorded her conversation with Tom’s harassment and ultimatum, and she shows Adam in front of Tom and a bunch of Harvard faculty. Adam doesn’t find out through Anh as he does in the movie. It resolves all her problems and gives her a happy ending: Tom is fired, and she gets interest from other labs. Ta-da!
What book-to-movie change was your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!
The Love Hypothesis, Streaming Now, Prime Video
