Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman brought to life one of BookTok’s famous stories, The Love Hypothesis. This romcom follows Olive Smith (Lili Reinhart) and Dr. Adam Carlson (Tom Bateman) as they test their theories about love in a fake relationship.
The Love Hypothesis, written by Ali Hazelwood, is a screen adaption directed by Claire Scanlon. The film follows Olive Smith and Dr. Adam Carlson as they enter a fake relationship. Olive is a quiet and reserved research specialist. Olive has had this crush on her colleague Jeremy, who is in love with Olive’s best friend Anh. To appease her best friend, Olive convinces Anh to pursue Jeremy while she fake dates Adam. Dr. Adam Carlsen is a stubborn, closed book, known as ‘Dr. Evil’. He is the grumpy man on campus who happens to be in need of a medical grant. So both of them decide to have a fake relationships with a ‘due’ date to satisfy both their goals.
It doesn’t go unnoticed that the common trend for 2026 film and TV productions is adaptations of popular books, or reliving the 2000s romcom era. It’s nice to see that Lili Reinhart herself is all about bringing back the 2000s romcom. She said herself that she grew up on movies such as How To Lose a Guy In 10 Days, 13 Going on 30, 27 Dresses, and more. During the press tour for The Love Hypothesis, she was seen dressed similarly to the iconic women who starred in these famous romcoms.
For a couple of years, Hollywood has struggled with producing romcoms. For a while, ticket sales plummeted and we haven’t heard of any good romcoms in a minute. There was this huge shift in the narrative because people would find it uninteresting to go and see a cliche romcom in a movie theater. Action, thrillers, and suspense were all the rage, and still accounts for the majority of box office success right now.
Suddenly BookTok took over everyone’s minds. BookTok saw a huge rise in popularity around 2023 to 2024 that brought to us numerous adaptations such as the Off Campus Series, People We Meet On Vacation, The Summer I Turned Pretty, It Ends With Us, and, in recent release, Verity. How come all of a sudden these films are becoming popular fan favorites?
Audiences have taken a special interest in films that brings back nostalgia. Nostalgia has been a very successful marketing tactic and now writers and filmmakers are using its power with popular series to recreate that 2000s romcom classic feel.
The Love Hypothesis was a success in bringing back that comfort feeling, like a girls night in watching a good romcom. Depending on who you are, it definitely did bring back a nostalgic feeling. I remember when I first picked up the book my senior year of high school, and now it's my senior year of college and I get to see the characters I read about on my screen.
Some other factors to consider while watching The Love Hypothesis is how accessible it was by being on streaming. As we’ve noticed for most other romcom series. It is a very specific target audience because maybe not everyone wants to go to the movie theater for a romcom.
Having these romcoms on streaming is part of what makes them feel good. The romcoms such as The Love Hypothesis and even Voicemails for Isabelle not only focused on the romantic aspect but also on girlhood. So it's not only romcoms themselves that are making a successful comeback, it is also the way they are presented to us. We are left with that 2000s nostalgic feeling while also bringing something new to the table.
When I think of romcoms now, I think of cozy blankets and girlhood. It is a very specific target audience, and a lot of people are appreciating it more than ever. Romcoms may not be the center of attention in our movie theaters, however, they definitely make for an enjoyable night in with friends.
