Movie Breakdown: Materialists

Pre-Screening Stance:

Like everyone else, I really loved writer/director Celine Song’s debut film, Past Lives. Can Materialists live up to it? I’d love to confidently say yes, but I have to admit that it looks like your standard rom-com. Really hoping I’m wrong though. Otherwise, it’ll be like when Chloé Zhao directed the Best Picture-winning Nomadland and then followed it up with a Marvel movie (Eternals).

Post-Screening Ramble:

I was pleasantly surprised by Materialists. It’s certainly setup like you’d expect a rom-com to be structured – Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a star matchmaker, but don’t let that fool you into thinking she’s got a perfect relationship of her own – nope, she’s single. One night, at yet another wedding she helped orchestrate, Lucy meets Harry (Pedro Pascal), a so-called “unicorn” in the dating world, meaning that he’s rich, tall, good-looking, charming, etc. He’s just perfect! But guess what, guys? The same wedding also delivers a run-in with her old flame John (Chris Evans), the one she really loved but had to leave because he couldn’t get his life together. So, faced with the luxurious perfection of Harry or the homely comfort of John – which will she choose? Yeah, you get it, you’ve seen rom-coms like this before, but despite how Materialists is plotted out, writer/director Celine Song orchestrates its pieces in a much different manner than I was expecting. This a rather cynical film, one that looks at dating and says “this sucks.” You see it across Lucy’s clients, all of whom need to see certain salary level and physical attribute boxes checked before they’ll even consider talking to someone, and you see it in Lucy herself, who views the people she’s “helping” as commodities in a marketplace. For her, love is something that comes if the numbers are right, so her approach to matching individuals is based around who can bring the most value (on paper) to one another and not whether they may actually share a true connection. It’s really an all-around downer take, but I’ll give it to Song, she still manages to maintain an endearing and sweet through line so that the film isn’t just a wall of negativity. Granted, it also helps that she gets lovely performances out of Johnson, Pascal, and Evans.

Materialists isn’t as impactful as Past Lives, but it is a worthwhile second film from Song. Definitely check it out, especially if you like your rom-com with more romance than comedy. The film opens in theaters this Friday, June 13.

One Last Thought:

It’s always nice to see Chris Evans in something where he actually gets to act. He’s pretty good at it.