Normally I’m big on reading before a book-to-movie adaptation hits the screen, but when it came to Amazon Prime Video’s The Love Hypothesis, I hadn’t picked up the book in advance of the flick hitting the 2026 release schedule. I enjoyed the movie for the most part, but there was one scene I was less in love with, and I recently found out it’s not actually in Ali Hazelwood’s NYT bestseller at all.
One Scene With Anh Stood Out As Off Tone To Me, And Now I Know Why
From the start to the very moment I finished watching The Love Hypothesis with my Amazon Prime subscription, I loved how important Olive’s friendship with Anh was. The two were among the only ladies in their science graduate program at Stanford, and supported each other both personally and professionally. In fact, I loved the way one scene played out at the end of the movie when Anh told Dr. Evil Adam Carlsen he was not handling his feelings in a way that was actually supporting Olive.
However, there’s a second scene between Anh and Olive late in the movie where the latter admits when she met Adam they were actually “fake dating.” (The fake dating was spoiled in the trailer, but I’m about to get into more specific spoilers here.) Anh looks at her for a second and basically confirms she’s known the whole time. Thanks to the sunscreen scene and other moments earlier in the movie where they are awkwardly touching one another, I guess it’s not out of the realm of possibility Anh knew this was fake news. Yet, something about that scene really felt off to me.
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I think I was weirded out when I was watching because in a lot of important ways, Olive is actually closer to her pal Malcolm. She’s in Malcolm’s personal space a lot more often because they live together, and he’s the person who calls her on her bs. Meanwhile, Anh’s been kind of preoccupied with her own new relationship for most of the movie. I have no doubt Anh cares about Olive through the course of the movie, but it just felt like Malcolm would have been the person to see through Olive and Adam’s ruse.
It turns out, in the book this is exactly what happened and director Claire Scanlon actually talked to Swoon about the change.
Also, in the book, it’s Malcolm who knows they’re fake dating, but what I loved about the Anh reveal is you don’t see that coming. I didn’t when I was reading the script; I was like, ‘Oh, whoa! They didn’t pull the wool over her eyes.’ And she’s like, ‘Come on, man! I’m a scientist. It’s literally my job to observe.’ Anh’s not telling her, ‘I know this is bullshit, but you guys are cute and awkward together. Maybe if you kept pretending, it would become real,’ and it did. Hopefully it gave you a warm, fuzzy feeling.
Scanlan said she loved the big change from the book to the movie, because “you don’t see it coming,” but I actually think that’s the same reason I found the scene to be off-putting. It wasn’t hinted at with knowing looks and we didn’t get any winks or jokes from the side characters ahead of the reveal, so to me it felt more like Olive and Anh’s heart-to-heart came kind of out of nowhere.
Having said this, I’m glad Olive and Anh had such a strong relationship in the movie. I’m glad they were championing one another’s love lives, particularly during that scene near the end where Anh really goes to bat for Olive. Their friendship sounds as if it is even more important in the movie than in the book, and that works for me.
In many ways, it probably makes sense then that Anh also got that big “we knew it was fake!” moment. And I’m grateful The Love Hypothesis seems to be bringing some big competition to Netflix’s rom-com slate this year. I’m just saying, I just still feel like it shoulda been Malcolm, and I’m interested in how book readers felt, as well.