Netflix’s Love at First Sight is another movie that began as a book. It may not be one of the upcoming book adaptations that I was most looking forward to watching, but it may be one of my favorite Netflix romantic movies. This adaptation of the Jennifer E. Smith book The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight restored my faith in Netflix’s romance movies, especially those adapted from books. Not only does the Love at First Sight Netflix movie stay fairly faithful to the book but the changes enhance the story.
The Jennifer E. Smith book The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight is compact enough that the movie didn’t have to cut too many important details to tell this story. However, it does make quite a few changes that give it its own identity. Let’s discuss the major differences between the Love at First Sight Netflix movie and The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight.
The Characters Are Older In The Movie
Similar to Netflix’s adaptation of Happiness for Beginners, this adaptation also makes the main characters a little older. In The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight, Hadley (Haley Lu Richardson) and Oliver (Ben Hardy) are only teens. Hadley is still in high school and is seventeen. Oliver is 19 and currently at Yale. In the movie, Hadley is 20 and Oliver is 22.
Likely the movie made them older because of the age of the actors and because it allows the story more freedom to show the characters drinking and other more adult activities. Love at First Sight may have also made them older to appeal to an older movie demographic.
Hadley And Oliver Meet Differently In The Book And Other Airport Details Are Changed
Book Oliver and Hadley meet when he tries to help her with her luggage. In Love at First Sight, they meet when he offers her his charging cord. Many of the airplane scenes play out differently in the book and movie. Another example of these changes is how they end up sitting together. In Jennifer E. Smith’s book, they’re already assigned seats close to each other on the plane. However, an older lady trades her seat with Oliver to allow them to sit closer. This is also the scene when Oliver and Hadley make up the story of their relationship beginning at an airport.
The broken seatbelt and being bumped up to business class only exist in the movie. Additionally, there are other little moments at the airport and on the plane that only happen in the book, such as them talking more about their family lives and exchanging phone numbers.
There Is No Narrator In The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight
Jameela Jamil plays the narrator in Love at First Sight. She is an all-present character who takes on many forms in Hadley and Oliver’s story. This is a fun addition that only exists in the film. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is mainly told from Hadley’s perspective. Therefore, she acts as the narrator and has a limited point of view.
Oliver Gets More Of A Backstory In Love At First Sight
Because The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight isn’t told from Oliver’s perspective, we only know some of his story. We only know what he tells Hadley about his life and what she sees of it. The movie allows us a broader look at his life and family. Love At First Sight endears us to his family with only a few scenes of his interactions with them. This is definitely a movie that benefits from having multiple perspectives to get the full picture of the story.
Oliver Goes To A Funeral In The Book
Hadley realizes in the book (from her father’s wedding guests) that Oliver is likely attending the funeral of his father. She then finds a way to get to it. In Love at First Sight, Oliver’s mother is having a memorial before she dies. The movie switches the dying parent from father to mother. It also changes the funeral to a memorial for someone who hasn’t died yet.
Book Oliver also paints his relationship with his father as not being a great father-son relationship. This is quite different from Oliver’s family life in the movie because he clearly has a very loving family in the movie. They also seem a lot more quirky in Love at First Sight than they do in the book.
Oliver And Hadley’s First Kiss Is At The Airport In The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight
Oliver and Hadley share an awkward kiss at the memorial/funeral in both Love at First Sight and The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. This is their first kiss in Love at First Sight. However, they get more of a movie-quality first kiss in the book. They kiss at the airport before going their separate ways.
Because Love at First Sight is a film, screenwriter Katie Lovejoy or perhaps director Vanessa Caswill likely cut this part to save the big meaningful kiss until the end of the movie, which is a typical rom-com move.
There Is A False Pregnancy Dilemma In The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight
At the wedding, Hadley overhears Charlotte talking about a baby. She assumed that this meant that her father and Charlotte were expecting a child. Later, she discovers that Charlotte is just an extreme planner and talking about a potential future child. Hadley’s misinterpretation makes her feel more isolated from her father’s new life.
But it also allows him to show her how important she is when he tells her that he wants her to be a part of his future baby plans. This plot point felt a little random in the Jennifer E. Smith book, so it’s not necessary for the movie, but it did help further repair Hadley’s bond with her father in The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight.
Love At First Sight Ends With A Look At Oliver And Hadley's Future
In Love at First Sight, the narrator reveals that Hadley and Oliver end up together until he dies far in the future. Readers aren’t given the same reassurance in The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. I really enjoyed this detail in the Netflix movie because it made Oliver and Hadley’s story more like a fairytale.
They got their “and they lived happily ever after,” but in a way that worked for the style of the movie.
Love at First Sight is one of the best movies to watch on Netflix right now. It’s a great romantic movie that has sensibility and maturity on its side while still being a little fanciful.
