Three Women-Centered Book Adaptations Put Romance and Austen on Screen

Three films adapted from books by women arrived within two weeks, backed by more than $100 million in combined spending and casts packed with established talent. Their source material ranges from fan fiction and self-published suspense to Jane Austen, and their results vary just as widely. Together, The Love Hypothesis, Verity and Sense and Sensibility offer a useful glimpse of what happens when stories for women receive serious screen resources: the investment is welcome, but it can’t guarantee that an adaptation understands what makes its book work.

That distinction matters in a field where romance has often been treated as less deserving of care than stories aimed at men. Big budgets have tended to go toward action and comic-book films, even though those, too, belong to genres with particular audiences. Romance, by contrast, gives viewers room to explore desire and intimacy on their own terms. These three releases don’t settle the question of whether women-centered stories are being treated differently, but they suggest the possibility of change.

The Love Hypothesis: a charming lead, an uncertain match

Amazon MGM Studios released The Love Hypothesis on Amazon Prime on September 23, 2026. Ali Hazelwood’s novel began as fan fiction inspired by the Star Wars universe. In the film, Lili Reinhart (Riverdale, Hustlers) plays Olive Smith, a biology PhD student, opposite Tom Bateman (Hedda, Death on the Nile) as Adam Carlsen, a prickly professor who persuades her to pretend they’re a couple.

Reinhart gives Olive’s awkwardness and quirky energy an appealing lightness. Her performance makes the character’s work as a cancer researcher feel like part of a full, particular person, rather than a résumé detail. Rachel Marsh (Adults, The Morning Show) and Jaboukie play Olive’s friends, rounding out a lively supporting cast.

The central romance is less convincing. Reinhart and Bateman don’t quite click as a couple, and the adaptation softens elements of their relationship that make the novel compelling. Telling the story entirely from Olive’s perspective may account for some of that change. Removing Holden, Adam’s best friend, also means losing a character who could have offered a needed counterweight to Adam’s abrasive manner.

Director Claire Scanlon, who made her mark with the 2018 film Set It Up, keeps the film easy to watch. Still, the decision to release it on a streaming service rather than in theaters feels surprising given the book’s success and the film’s budget. The studio put substantial effort into its marketing, including a press tour where Reinhart wore outfits inspired by romantic comedies from the 1990s and 2000s. That kind of attention suggests an appetite for the genre; a theatrical release for future rom-coms would be welcome.

Verity: strong talent meets difficult material

Colleen Hoover’s latest screen adaptation opened in theaters on October 2. Anne Hathaway plays Verity Crawford, a writer who is paralyzed and unable to speak. Verity’s husband, Jeremy, played by Josh Hartnett (Trap, The Virgin Suicides), hires Lowen Ashleigh, played by Dakota Johnson (Fifty Shades of Gray, The Materialists), to write Verity’s next book. While staying with the family and looking through Verity’s notes, Lowen finds a manuscript that appears to contain disturbing confessions.

The film is pitched as a psychosexual erotic thriller, but the label promises more than the movie delivers. There’s little erotic charge, and its attempts at suspense don’t build much tension. The source novel has limits, and the adaptation doesn’t find a way to rise above them. A scene in which Lowen says she doesn’t read books sold at airports seems intended to mark her as a literary snob. It also lands awkwardly in a film based on a mass-market novel, raising the question of whether the story is poking fun at that kind of book or looking down on it.

Johnson carries much of the drama, but her performance doesn’t supply the force the story needs. Hathaway brings commitment to Verity, though her character spends much of the film bedridden, with much of the performance delivered through breathy voiceover and brief moments at a computer. There’s real talent involved, and the film treats its source material earnestly. That earnestness can’t fix the story’s underlying weaknesses.

Sense and Sensibility: a warm, capable Austen adaptation

Georgia Oakley, whose earlier film is Blue Jean, brings a different sensibility to Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. Daisy Edgar-Jones (Where the Crawdads Sing, Normal People), Esme Creed-Miles and Bodhi Rae Breathnach play the Dashwood sisters, with Caitriona Balfe (Outlander) as their mother, Mrs. Dashwood. Frank Dillane, Herbert Nordrum and George MacKay play the romantic interests; Fiona Shaw (Harry Potter, Persuasion) completes the central ensemble as Mrs. Jennings. The casting works across the board, and the performances add texture to Austen’s characters.

The story follows the Dashwood women as they adapt to life without their family’s patriarch and seek marriages and homes that will allow them to maintain their standard of living. This is a faithful, straightforward adaptation, and it doesn’t offer a particularly fresh point of view. Yet it’s an enjoyable film, shaped with clear affection for the material. The filmmakers seem to have studied what worked in earlier versions, especially the 2005 Pride and Prejudice, and brought some of that appeal to their approach.

Diana Reid’s screenplay keeps Austen’s comedy and romantic feeling in balance. Arnaud Potier’s photography, with its soft natural light, and the thoughtful traditional score support that tone without crowding it. The result is funny and tender, with room for love between family members as well as romantic partners. By the end, the film’s account of devotion and the sacrifices people make for those they care about had me laughing, blushing and close to tears. It’s a charming adaptation, and a strong case for giving Oakley more classic novels to bring to the screen.

These films make very different arguments for adapting women’s writing. One is breezy but blunts its romance, another struggles against the limits of its story, and Austen’s familiar world arrives with warmth and skill. The clearest takeaway is that greater resources open the door; thoughtful adaptation still determines what comes through it.