THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS (2026)

September 22, 2026

Greetings again from the darkness. This year’s batch of Hallmark Christmas movies hasn’t hit yet, so for those fans, here’s the next best thing … a Romantic Comedy based on the New York Times bestseller written by Ali Hazelwood. Directed by prolific TV director Claire Scanlon, with an adapted screenplay by Sarah Rothschild, the film delivers easy comedy with a burst of ‘Girl Power’.

Lili Reinhart (CHEMICAL HEARTS, 2020) stars as Olive, a junk food junkie fighting anxiety over her Grad School interview when we first meet her. This anxiety acts as an internal battle for the brilliant researcher committed to finding a treatment for pancreatic cancer, the disease that took her mother. Once on campus at Stanford, Olive is quickly befriended by the much more outgoing Anh (Rachel Marsh, “Unstable”). The story’s ‘conflict’ occurs when Olive realizes she and Anh have a crush on the same guy, Jeremy (Nicholas Duvernay, “The White Lotus”). Being the grateful and dutiful friend she is, Olive yields the lust to Anh via a most awkward interaction with Dr. Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman, DEATH ON THE NILE, 2022).

Soon, ‘Dr Evil’ (as Carlsen is known by students) and Olive have struck up a mutually beneficial “fake dating” agreement, complete with rules and regulations. This arrangement allows Dr. Carlsen to pursue the professional advancement he requires, while Olive can ensure that BFF Anh and Jeremy are unencumbered to pursue romance. It’s a win-win, except, of course (and obviously), fake dating rarely stays fake. The necessary complication arrives in the form of Dr Thomas Benton (Arty Froushan, “Daredevil: Born Again”) who fulfills the role of scummy, misogynistic male who abuses his position of power.

This is a Girl Power story told in a rom-com the traditional rom-com style, which makes it a challenge for some of us to appreciate. Reportedly, author Hazelwood used Rey from the Star Wars movies as inspiration for Olive. In a touch of synchronicity, Daisy Ridley (who played Rey) is married to Tom Bateman. It’s not difficult to imagine this as a more real-life drama, which means the story is one worth telling. As a bonus, the best line in the movie is, “Carry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre white guy”, and that made me laugh.

Premieres on Prime Video on September 23, 2026

WATCH THE TRAILER

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Posted by David Ferguson

CHEMICAL HEARTS (2020)

August 20, 2020

 Greetings again from the darkness. In the mid-1960’s Cat Stevens wrote the song “The First Cut is the Deepest.” It’s a beautiful and poignant song that has been a hit single for many artists, including Rod Stewart (1977) and Sheryl Crow (2003). Although the song is not associated with this film from writer-director Richard Tanne, I couldn’t stop thinking of it as the story unfolded – unsure if any teen romance has ever captured the sentiment with more emotional depth. The film is based on the 2016 novel, “Our Chemical Hearts”, by Krystal Sutherland.

Henry Page (Austin Abrams, PAPER TOWNS) is a high school senior, who proclaims as our narrator, “You are never more alive than when you are a teenager.” Henry also laments that “nothing remarkable” has happened in his life yet. That changes quickly the day the teacher-sponsor of the school newspaper calls Henry and new student Grace Town (Lili Reinhart, CW series “Riverdale”) into the office to inform them they will be co-Editors this year. However, the remarkable part for Henry isn’t achieving his goal of being Editor, rather it’s meeting Grace.

Grace is not nearly as excited as Henry for the assignment, but agrees to edit the paper as long as she doesn’t have to write. It turns out Grace is beyond damaged, she’s a shattered soul. A recent car crash took the life of her true love boyfriend, and left her leg severely damaged, instantly ending her track career. In contrast, Henry’s hobby is Kintsugi, an ancient Japanese tradition of re-assembling broken pottery. Yep, Henry is a fixer, albeit a sensitive one, and Grace is broken. Despite Henry’s best intentions, we see where this is headed.

Henry falls quickly and hard for Grace, though she’s much slower to come around. She’s grieving and filled with guilt, and Henry is simply too young to understand what she’s going through – although he gives all he can. Every teenager believes they have the strangest home life on the planet, but Grace may very well take the prize. Hormones, drama, romance, New Jersey, and Neruda’s “100 Love Sonnets” all play a role here, and mostly we are mesmerized by two outstanding young actors. Ms. Reinhart brings exceptional depth to a difficult role, and she and Mr. Abrams are terrific together. I watched this film back-to-back with another teen-drama-romance new release entitled WORDS ON BATHROOM WALLS, and it’s extremely rare to find two such thought-provoking films centered on a pair of high school students … but quite a treat (although I believe all 4 actors are long past high school age).

Opens August 21, 2020 on Amazon Prime

watch the trailer:

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Posted by David Ferguson