‘When you’re lost… the answer is simple. Just go where love is...’
A romantic comedy drama for adults. 2025, you are spoiling us. I have not had to worry about the hellscape that is modern dating for a long, long time now, and I’m confident that I never will again. I’m lucky to have never had to navigate the murky waters of online dating, and Materialists, the second film from Canadian director Celine Song, confirms that love in the internet era is, for want of a better word, awful…
Lucy Mason (Dakota Johnson) is a professional matchmaker in New York City who is forced to choose between her lovable but unsuccessful ex-boyfriend, John (Chris Evans), and Harry (Pedro Pascal), an incredibly wealthy and charming man that she meets at a wedding.
I think what’s most striking is how relieved the main trio in the cast are to not be acting in a comic book film. Johnson, Evans and Pascal, freed from Madame Web, Captain America and The Fantastic Four, respectively, have a blast playing characters who don’t wear spandex. It is particularly satisfying seeing Evans do some proper acting again – anyone who followed his early career knows that he’s got the chops. He shares an electric chemistry with Johnson here, with the latter appearing in almost every scene and being likeable throughout despite her character’s many flaws.
While the set-up of a woman choosing between two very different men is, of course, incredibly familiar to anyone who has seen a romcom, Materialists is very different in tone from many of the other films within this subgenre. This is a surprisingly downbeat film with some real dark moments within it. While it doesn’t quite stick the landing, the cast are so good that the journey is sufficiently enjoyable to justify the running time. I loved Song’s previous film, Past Lives, and while Materialists isn’t quite up to the standard of that film, I still found loads here to enjoy.
