Coffee Books & Dragons

**Warning: This review may contain spoilers to The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood. Read with caution.**

Okay, friends.

I have officially watched The Love Hypothesis movie.

And I have thoughts. 👀

If you’ve been around Coffee, Books & Dragons for a while, you probably already know that I have a soft spot for The Love Hypothesis. It was the book that started my Ali Hazelwood obsession, I’ve reread it, and despite some of its flaws, I still gave it a solid four stars.

So naturally, I was ridiculously excited to see Adam and Olive make their way onto the screen.

And now that I’ve watched it?

Well…

It was a Love Hypothesis movie. But it wasn’t THE Love Hypothesis.

Let me explain. 😭

⭐ My Rating: 3/5 Stars

First, I don’t think The Love Hypothesis is a bad movie.

Actually, if I separated it completely from the book and watched it as a random romance movie, I’d probably say it was pretty cute!

There were funny moments. There were romantic moments. We technically got Adam and Olive. We even got more Ahn, which I enjoyed.

But that’s also the problem.

I’ve read the book.

I’ve reread the book.

I already know these characters, their relationships, and all those little moments that made me fall in love with the story in the first place.

And the movie left out—or completely changed—way too many of them.

🫒 Lili Reinhart WAS Olive

Let’s start with one of my favorite things about the movie because Lili Reinhart did AMAZING as Olive.

Seriously. 👏🏻

Out of everything in this adaptation, she was probably the easiest thing for me to immediately accept.

She felt like Olive.

She captured the awkwardness and personality that I associate with the character, and I genuinely loved watching her in the role.

Casting Olive?

No notes.

🧑‍🔬 Adam, Though…

Adam was a little harder for me.

And I want to make it clear that this isn’t meant as a criticism of the actor himself. I think part of the problem might simply be that after reading the book more than once, I had created a very specific Adam in my head.

Movie Adam felt a little…stiff to me.

Granted, Adam isn’t exactly supposed to be Mr. Sunshine. 😂

He’s grumpy. He’s intimidating. He’s reserved. That’s part of the appeal.

But something about his movie portrayal didn’t quite click with the Adam I pictured while reading.

Maybe this is one of those unavoidable problems with seeing a favorite book character brought to life. Sometimes the version you’ve created in your imagination is almost impossible for an actor to compete with.

Unfortunately, Book Adam still wins this one for me.

💕 But What About Adam + Olive?

This is where things get complicated.

Because I liked seeing them together!

There were cute moments, and I still enjoyed the romance.

But I think their relationship suffered from the same problem I had with the movie overall:

There wasn’t enough room for everything surrounding them.

Part of what made Adam and Olive work for me in the book wasn’t just Adam + Olive. It was their friends, their careers, Stanford, their individual personalities, and all those smaller interactions happening around their relationship.

Take too much of that away, and their romance starts to feel different too.

😭 WHERE WAS EVERYBODY?!

Okay.

This might have been one of my biggest problems.

Malcolm?!

Olive and Malcolm’s friendship was such an important part of the book for me, and I really missed having more of that relationship in the movie.

Don’t get me wrong. Seeing more of Ahn and Olive’s friendship made me happy. That said, I LOVED Malcolm in the book and I loved the fact that he knew Adam and Olive’s relationship was fake.

Movie Malcolm, on the other hand, was an entirely different character to me.

And where was Dr. Rodriguez, Adam’s best friend?!

He played such a huge role in the book. IFYKYK! So, why cut him out of the movie?

These aren’t just random background characters that I expected the movie to squeeze in because “BUT THEY WERE IN THE BOOK!”

Their relationships helped flesh out Adam and Olive as people.

When you remove those relationships—or significantly reduce them—you lose some of the personality and world surrounding the romance.

And speaking of missing important things…

☕ Not Even the Infamous PSL?!

I KNOW THIS IS SMALL.

I KNOW. 😂

But COME ON.

The pumpkin spice latte?!

If you’re adapting The Love Hypothesis, there are certain little moments that readers are going to be sitting there waiting for.

And that’s part of the fun of watching a book adaptation!

You know the scene is coming.

You wait.

You get excited.

And then—

…nothing.

😭☕️

Obviously, the absence of a PSL isn’t why I’m giving the movie three stars.

But it represents a bigger problem I had throughout the movie: so many of the little moments that gave the book its personality were gone.

📖 And Then There’s the Actual Plot…

This is where my disappointment went from:

“Aw, I wish they’d kept that.”

to:

“Wait…what are we doing here?”

Because what happened to the original plot?!

One of the biggest moments in the book involves Dr. Benton harassing Olive after her seminar.

Then there’s the video.

And the fallout from everything that happens afterward.

And Adam’s willingness to potentially leave Stanford just so he could be closer to Olive.

These aren’t tiny scenes I expected to survive an adaptation word-for-word.

These are major pieces of the story.

So when you start significantly changing those parts on top of removing characters, friendships, and smaller fan-favorite moments, at what point are we watching a different version of the story?

Which brings me to…

🎬 Was It Actually a Good Adaptation?

For me?

No.

And there’s a difference between saying “I didn’t like the movie” and “I didn’t think it was a good adaptation.”

Because I did enjoy parts of the movie!

As a standalone romance?

It’s cute. It’s entertaining. Lili Reinhart is fantastic. There are pieces of the book sprinkled throughout, and I enjoyed finally getting to see Adam and Olive on screen.

But as an adaptation of a book I’ve read and loved?

It didn’t work for me.

And I’m not someone who expects a movie adaptation to copy its source material exactly.

Books and movies are completely different formats. Things have to be shortened, combined, removed, or changed to make the story work on screen.

I get that.

But when you change the major plot, remove important relationships, cut memorable moments, and alter enough of what made the original story special…

Eventually, it stops feeling like an adaptation.

Honestly?

“Remix” feels more accurate.

📚 Book vs. Movie: Who Wins?

Oh, come on.

😂

📖 THE BOOK. Easily.

Book: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Movie: ⭐⭐⭐

Lili Reinhart’s Olive may have walked straight off the page for me, but the movie itself couldn’t replace the story I already loved.

Book Adam wins.

Book Olive wins.

Book Adam and Olive’s relationship wins.

And, the original plot definitely takes home a few complementary pumpkin spice lattes. ☕

🐉 Tito’s Official Movie-Night Report

🍿 Popcorn consumed: Yes.

🐉 Tiny dragon emotionally invested: Obviously.

☕ PSL appearance: UNACCEPTABLY LOW.

📚 Number of times I thought “BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED”: We’re not counting.

🏆 Winner: The book.

☕ Final Thoughts

Maybe my expectations were too high.

Maybe I’ve reread the book enough that I was always going to notice every missing character, changed scene, and tiny detail.

And maybe someone who has never read The Love Hypothesis will watch this movie and absolutely love it.

Honestly? I can see why they would.

Because underneath all my book-reader complaints, there’s a perfectly enjoyable romance movie here.

That’s why I can’t call it bad.

But I also can’t call it the adaptation I was hoping for.

I wanted to watch The Love Hypothesis come to life.

Instead, I felt like I watched a movie inspired by The Love Hypothesis.

And apparently that distinction matters more to me than I realized.

So I’m sticking with the thought I had almost immediately after finishing it:

It was a Love Hypothesis movie.

But it wasn’t THE Love Hypothesis. ⭐⭐⭐

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I apparently need to go reread the book again. 😂📚

What did you think of the movie? Did the changes bother you, or did you love this version of Adam and Olive? And most importantly…

Book or movie? 👀

See you in the next chapter,
Alex + Tito 🐉☕