Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman really did a wonderful job portraying the beloved Olive Smith and Dr Adam Carlsen in the movie adaptation of ‘The Love Hypothesis’. But when there is an equally iconic source material behind a movie, we can’t help but compare.
While the movie can’t have it all, some changes from the book left us disappointed. But then some changes worked surprisingly well. Here are 10 of the biggest differences between ‘The Love Hypothesis’ book and movie, and how they change Olive and Adam’s story.
10. Olive Actually Dated Jeremy
The dynamic between Olive and her friends is pretty different in the movie and the book. In the movie, we get a glimpse of their early grad days, where Olive had a slight crush on Jeremy but was so burnt out from school that she failed to realise he was actually interested in Ahn.
Whereas in the book, Olive and Jeremy actually date for a short time. This makes more sense for Ahn to be so reluctant to date her best friend’s ex. However, because of Rachel Marsh’s electric performance we have to give the credit to the movie. They also created the plot point of Ahn figuring out Olive and Adam’s scene early on but still pushing them to spend time together because she realised they genuinely like each other.
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9. Book Malcolm Had A Bigger Role
Malcolm’s rivalry with Adam exists in both the book and the movie. But the movie turned this tension into a far bigger conflict, where Malcolm and Olive actually fight over Adam’s strictness with his students.
In the book, Malcolm’s character had a bigger and far better role. Olive told him from the start that she and Adam were fake dating and got his support in pulling off their plan. He was also the first person to whom Olive revealed that she had started developing real feelings for Adam. At this, Malcolm was surprisingly very supportive of her.
8. Olive And Tom’s First Meeting Was Completely Different
In the movie, Olive first meets Tom at the picnic, which leads her to attend Dr Fastuca’s cocktail party. Here, Tom pressures Olive into pitching in front of the whole faculty. This is also where we get the famous “Adam is afraid of spiders” story.
In the book, Tom first meets Olive during their weekly coffee date with Adam, where he asks some pretty intrusive questions about her work, and Adam helps her organise her thoughts and answer properly. Olive revealed here that science is, in fact, very personal to her. In this meeting, Tom asks Olive to compile a report on her findings, only to later threaten to steal her work after receiving it.
7. Tom Didn’t Get Olive Her Speech At The SBD Conference
The movie chose to make Tom offer Olive a spot at the SBD Conference to formally present her proposal. Olive initially wonders if she was chosen because she is Adam’s girlfriend, though Tom denies doing that.
The book takes a slightly different approach. Olive had already submitted her proposal to the conference before meeting either Adam or Tom. It was completely clear that she was selected based solely on her work, since the conference also followed a blind review process.
6. Tom Harassed Olive At The Conference
The movie changes both the timing and context of Tom’s harassment of Olive. After Olive sleeps with Adam following their sushi date, Tom brings coffee to her hotel room as a cover to pressure Olive to sleep with him in exchange for a position at his lab.
In the book, Tom does this right after Olive’s conference presentation. The encounter sends Olive into a spiral. Adam notices this and takes her out to the sushi restaurant.
5. Adam Didn’t Ghost Olive
The movie’s approach to the third-act breakup was truly heartbreaking. After Tom tells Adam he plans to offer a spot on his team, he also warns him to make sure she remains focused on her work rather than their relationship. This leads to Adam ghosting Olive, who was already going down a spiral after getting harrassed by Tom.
In the book, it was Olive who decided to end things herself after Tom’s harassment. While she obviously wasn’t going to take Tom’s offer, she also didn’t want to ruin Adam and Tom’s friendship, especially since Adam had already accepted an offer to work together with Tom.
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4. There Was No Recording In The Movie
This was a major omission in the movie but somehow ended up fitting the context. In the book, Dr Aslan asks Olive to record her conference speech, which ended up also recording Tom harassing her.
Olive later shows the recording to Adam, as well as Tom’s Harvard colleagues and superiors. The movie removes this plot point entirely. Instead, Ahn tells Adam what happened, leading him to confront Tom and expose his behaviour in front of his students.
3. Adam Had A Huge Crush On Olive
The movie does hint at this slightly, but it completely missed out on the plot of Adam having a long-standing crush on Olive. After their bathroom meet-cute, Adam fell for her and wanted to ask her out for years but was afraid of rejection.
Adam once even tries to tell Olive in the book that he only agreed to fake-date her not because of his grant, but because he genuinely liked her. We have to give the book a point here for nailing the yearning, though the movie did give us the fitting nickname “Dr Evil”.
2. The Movie Missed Out On Dr Holden Rodriguez
One of the major omissions from the movie is Dr Holden Rodriguez, and we are still mourning that. He was Adam’s childhood friend and closest confidant and served as a foil to both Adam and Tom.
Holden openly distrusted Tom from the start. He was the one who urged Olive to tell Adam the truth and also revealed that the only reason Adam was choosing to work with Tom was probably because of Olive.
1. The Sitting On The Lap Scene
This iconic scene had BookTok divided over whether it was simply cute or completely impossible, cringe and inappropriate. During a very crowded seminar, Ahn forces Olive to sit on Adam’s lap because there was barely any room around them to stand.
We can’t deny that we were all curious to see how the movie would handle this scene, and its omission is a little disappointing. Another missing moment was the car battery scene in the book, where Adam moves a dead car while the entire campus, including Olive, watches and swoons over him.
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