Love at First Sight (2023 film)

Love at First Sight is a 2023 American romantic comedy film directed by Vanessa Caswill and written by Katie Lovejoy, based upon the 2011 novel The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith. It stars Haley Lu Richardson, Ben Hardy, Dexter Fletcher, Rob Delaney, Sally Phillips and Jameela Jamil. The film premiered on Netflix on September 15, 2023.

Plot
On December 21st at JFK Airport, the narrator introduces 20-year old Hadley Sullivan. An American student who is often late with an undercharged phone, Hadley just misses her flight to London and is rebooked on the next.

At a charging station, Hadley meets British 22-year old Yale student Oliver Jones, who lends her his charger. They hit it off and agree to eat dinner together at the food court. Hadley explains she is flying to London for her dad Andrew's second wedding and is ambivalent about his decision to remarry only a few years after divorcing her mother. Oliver reveals he is studying statistical inference and conducting a not-specified research project. As he is carrying a garment bag, Hadley assumes he is also going to a wedding, which he does not contest.

After boarding, Hadley and Oliver part, but he discovers his seat belt is broken, so is moved to the seat next to Hadley. They spend the flight falling in love.

After landing, Oliver puts his phone number into Hadley's so she can text him, but it dies and she loses the number. With no way to find him, Hadley goes to the wedding, arriving right before it's due to start. Although struggling with her father's decision to remarry, Hadley is struck by his fiancée Charlotte's kindness and consideration.

After the ceremony, Hadley overhears family friends telling Charlotte they’ll be leaving early to attend a memorial service. After hearing some of the details, Hadley quickly realizes that Oliver has actually come to London to attend his mother’s memorial, not a wedding. Hadley spontaneously decides to go to it, as the wedding reception doesn't start for several hours.

Meanwhile, Oliver's brother Luther collects him at the airport to head to the Shakespeare-themed memorial. There, he reunites with his father Val, and his still-living mother Tessa, who has terminal lung cancer and wants to attend her own memorial. Oliver tells her he is unhappy she refuses to undergo treatment, but Tessa emphasises that even with treatment she'll still die, and she would rather do so feeling like herself.

Hadley successfully finds the memorial service, where she meets Oliver's family. After overcoming her initial confusion over Tessa still being alive, she eventually finds Oliver.

Oliver is happy to see Hadley, and tries to downplay his feelings about his mother's death. When she presses him to be honest and not use statistics to rationalize the situation, Oliver lashes out. Hadley leaves awkwardly, although he apologizes, so they don't part on good terms.

Afterwards, Oliver delivers Tessa's eulogy. In it, he confesses that he has attempted to measure his life in numbers to help make sense of it. However, he cannot reduce his mother’s presence and meaning to simple statistics.

Hadley, meanwhile, realizes she forgot her backpack at the memorial and attempts to return to the wedding reception on foot, but gets lost. She borrows a phone and calls her dad, who collects her with Charlotte.

Andrew commends Hadley for taking a chance and going to see Oliver, and provides her with closure over her feelings about his divorce from her mother. He and Charlotte both apologize that their excitement to involve Hadley in their wedding unintentionally put pressure on her. Father and daughter reconcile and they all go to the reception together.

Following the memorial, Oliver's family teases him about Hadley, but Oliver insists it's futile to pursue her as the odds of their relationship working out are low. Having found Hadley's backpack, they find Andrew's wedding invitation inside and encourage Oliver to go see her. Val tells him that even if he had known that Tessa would eventually die of cancer, he wouldn't have done anything differently, and the family sets out to find Hadley.

Oliver tracks Hadley down at the reception and admits his three greatest fears: germs, the dark, and surprises, due to his mother's cancer diagnosis. She then gives him a happy surprise by kissing him. When Hadley asks Oliver what he's researching, he reveals it's the statistical probability of love at first sight.

The narrator then reveals that Hadley and Oliver will stay together for the rest of their lives, be married for 58 years, and have a daughter.

Production
In November 2020, Haley Lu Richardson joined the cast of the film, with Vanessa Caswill directing from a screenplay by Katie Lovejoy, based upon the 2011 novel The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith, with Richardson also set to serve as an executive producer. In January 2021, Ben Hardy, Dexter Fletcher, Rob Delaney, Sally Phillips and Jameela Jamil joined the cast of the film, with principal photography beginning that same month.

Release
In April 2022, Netflix bought worldwide rights to the film. Love at First Sight premiered on Netflix on September 15, 2023.

Reception
On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100 based on reviews from 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average".