Like her Oscar-winning debut Past Lives, Celine Song’s Materialists hones in on a love triangle, this time involving Lucy (Dakota Johnson), a professional matchmaker at an exclusive dating agency, John (Chris Evans), her broke and struggling actor ex-partner, and Harry (Pedro Pascal), a charming and affluent businessman. Harry is a “unicorn” (her words) in Lucy’s line of work: tall, super rich, really kind, and sexy. Essentially, she’s everything she should want in a marriage partner. Alas, with John, there’s a shared history and a familiarity between them that, together, makes Lucy feel (again, her words), “valuable.”
At first, Materialists certainly sets itself up like a classic rom-com: Lucy is an independent woman and really good at her job (arguably the best matchmaker at her agency). She isn’t looking for love for herself, but a chance encounter with a seemingly perfect man forces her to reconsider her view on romance in her own life. On that same night, an old flame pops back into frame, bringing even more emotional hurdles.
It all feels a bit like The Wedding Planner, Hitch, Sweet Home Alabama, and My Best Friend’s Wedding rolled into one. Which is a good thing: there’s a refreshing hopefulness in the first act, not unlike the first-date jitters that come when you’re determined to finally put yourself out there and excited to meet someone for the first time. Of course, as much as this portion of the film might feel like a return of the rom-com (as it is being marketed as), Song’s touch is decidedly modern, poking fun at how dating has more or less become mathematical and algorithmic in our digital age, while still promising that finding real love is, in fact, possible.
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The problem, however, is that Materialists abruptly takes a sharp turn in its second act, when one of Lucy’s long-standing clients, Sophie (Zoë Winters), has a dangerous experience on a date Lucy’s agency sets her up with. More than the legal ramifications, it’s the idea that a seemingly good man on paper (“He checked all of our boxes,” Lucy tries to convince her and herself) could be bad that disillusions her to her job and, most significantly, the idea of true love. By this point, the film has spun more plates than it can manage, and the rest of the film becomes too frantic in attempting to balance tone, theme, and story, such that the hopeful humour at the start of the film rottens into a sort of cynicism from which there’s no successful return.
It doesn’t help that Song’s script insists upon multiple metaphors, too: dating is just math between two people; marriage is a business deal; navigating romance is all about risk management. What’s more, Harry and John personify Lucy’s — and, for that matter, the film’s — conflicting attitudes towards love. Choosing the former is the smarter and more lucrative decision, but the way the heart pulls towards the latter is supposed to be that classic, ineffable love we all want. It should feel romantic, but the script oscillates between being too stale at some points and too platitudinous at others.
In this regard, Johnson is excellently cast as Lucy. Her internal style of acting offers a well-suited match for what Materialists needs in its leading lady, and she manages to pull off a multi-layered performance that simultaneously charms and disarms. Pascal, too, is great, if under-utilized. He and Johnson exude a sexy chemistry that truly is the highlight of the film. In terms of the rest of the cast, Winters turns in an unforgettable performance, and while Evans endears as John, his movie-star status makes it difficult to buy the idea that he’s an aging, down-and-out actor.
There’s a painful irony to Materialists: in its steadfast commentary on the seemingly inherent superficiality of modern dating, it ends up failing to achieve or say anything profound about it. Indeed, the film wants you — perhaps too desperately — to walk away at the end believing in true love, but the moments of genuine charm are too few and too far between that it ends up feeling like the film itself doesn’t even believe in it.
If it had a dating profile, the film might, at first glance, check all the right boxes — great cast, Oscar-nominated writer-director, A24 backing — but unfortunately you’re better off swiping left and saving yourself the trouble of a disappointing time.
