If you’re anything like me, you are an absolute sucker for romantic tropes. Enemies to lovers, slow burn, best friends to lovers. And my personal favorite: fake dating. The Love Hypothesis is completely centered on the premise of fake dating, so I knew I was going to love it from the start.

Now, I know that this was first a book, written by Ali Hazlewood, but I am a little ashamed to say I haven’t read it. I have it downloaded on my kindle and planned to read it before the movie released, but I clearly didn’t do that. My curiosity got the best of me and I just had to watch the movie first.

I am not going to be spoiling anything in this review, but I feel like it is so obvious what happens. When a book or movie has the fake dating trope, we all know that they (most likely) end up actually falling in love. Our main female character is named Olive Smith and she is a P.H.D candidate for some kind of biology that I don’t understand. In other words, she’s very brilliant and so is every other character because they are all either doctoral candidates or doctors of biology at Stanford. Olive and her best friend, Anh, are as thick as thieves and Olive would do anything to ensure the happiness of Anh. So, when she realizes that Anh turned down a date because she thought Olive liked the guy who asked her out, Olive (of course) had to fake date somebody else to prove that she no longer had feelings for the other boy.

When Olive conjures up this incredible scheme, she decides to kiss the first man she sees: none other than Dr. Evil. Dr. Evil, Adam Carlsen, is a P.H.D. mentor that is notoriously mean and often crushes the dreams of naive little candidates. Much to Olive’s surprise, Adam agrees to her plan to fake date not only for her benefit, but also for his. He needs to renew his university funding and prove to them that he plans to stick around long-term, and a girlfriend would be the perfect way to do so.

When the two start “dating” many are skeptical due to Olive’s sunshiney nature and Adam’s grumpy, blunt personality. But, when fake dating exposes Adam’s sweet side, Olive realizes she is developing real feelings. Of course, there are some added conflicts later on that complicate each of their feelings, but I won’t spoil.

Overall, I absolutely loved this movie. I even convinced my husband to watch it and I swear I caught him grinning multiple times. The fake dating trope will always be one of my favorites because it ALWAYS lead to real feelings. Like every, single time. And although this movie is a light-hearted romance, there are still some heavier themes that are explored and I appreciate how those themes made the movie more than just a silly rom-com. Additionally, the acting made the film feel so natural; the characters were not even friends when they started “dating,” so their interactions were awkward and authentic.

If you are a fan of romance, or the husband of someone who loves romance, you will enjoy this movie. It is light-hearted, yet able to delve into some darker themes. Many scenes had me (and my husband) giggling and smiling at the character exchanges. I will definitely be reading the book soon and re-watching this movie every time I need a feel good, comfort watch.