Materialists review: An unexpected and unconvincing romance drama
I adored Celine Song‘s previous film, Past Lives, so I couldn’t wait to see what she’d follow it up with. Materialists is a step down in comparison, but there’s a lot to like in there.
The film stars Dakota Johnson as Lucy, a high-end matchmaker working in New York City. When she attends the wedding of a client, she meets his rich older brother Harry (Pedro Pascal) and bumps into her ex-boyfriend John (Chris Evans). Lucy has to decide if she wants to pursue a romance with Harry or get back together with John.
Harry and John couldn’t be more different. Harry is disgustingly rich, has a gorgeous apartment and can give Lucy the aspirational lifestyle she covets. On the other hand, John is a broke actor who works as a waiter. He lives in a flatshare in his late 30s and cannot take her on expensive dates. But she loves him. Will Lucy choose with her head or her heart? Is love or lifestyle more important?
It may seem like Materialists is a light love triangle drama, but there’s much more to it than that. It gets much darker than I expected and explores the risks of blind dating that are generally swept under the rug. I respected this storyline and found it very interesting, but I also thought Song didn’t know how to really resolve it.
Given her experience as a matchmaker, it’s no surprise that Song really hits the nail on the head with dating culture and people setting their expectations too high and being too picky. The sections about the dating scene are excellent, and I devoured the rich and juicy dialogue; however, I struggled to believe some of the characters’ decisions. For example, I wasn’t convinced by Lucy’s romance with Harry, and her decisions at the end didn’t feel true to her character.
Johnson works perfectly for the polished matchmaker version of Lucy, but she struggles to meet the demands of her character when she’s more vulnerable. The final act would have been much more effective with an actress with a greater range and the ability to go deeper emotionally. She also doesn’t have any physical chemistry with Pascal (who is very suave and charming), but I enjoyed their conversations and rapport.
I wasn’t sure if Evans was entirely right for John, as he doesn’t particularly look like a penniless waiter. However, I really grew to love John, and he is given some brilliant dialogue that he performs with raw vulnerability. Out of the three, Evans won me over the most.
Materialists isn’t a rom-com or a simple love triangle drama. It has a lot to say about dating and how love weighs up against the more materialistic aspects of relationships. I just wish I had bought the characters and their decisions more.
In cinemas from Friday 15th August