Some films have crazy origin stories. For “The Love Hypothesis,” the project originated in the mind of author Ali Hazlewood, who wanted to do something with her “Star Wars” fandom, electing to feed into the “Reylo” craze and create an offering of fan fiction that brought the sequel characters of Rey and Ben Solo into the world of graduate school. Hazlewood eventually went on to rework her writing to fit fiction needs, ending up with a more traditional, less Sith-infused story of romance and high-pressure academic performance. Such an industry journey isn’t unheard of (“Fifty Shades of Grey” began life as “Twilight” fanfic), but it remains an interestingly bizarre origin story for material that’s no longer weird, but a fairly standard romantic comedy. “The Love Hypothesis” is now a movie, and it doesn’t have lightsabers, but there’s charm from stars Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman (who, amazingly, is married in real life to Daisy Ridley, who played Rey in the sequels), who help to elevate a formulaic but occasionally involving story of deception and burgeoning feelings. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
Leave a comment