Materialists
Director: Celine Song
Writer: Celine Song
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal, Zoe Winters, Marin Ireland, Dasha Nekrasova, Emmy Wheeler, Louisa Jacobson, Eddie Cahill
Seen on: 22.8.2025

Content Note: sexualized violence (mentioned)

Plot:
Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a matchmaker. Working for an elite agency, she matches New York’s richest and finest – and she is very good at her job. When attending a wedding of one her matched couples, she meets the groom’s brother, Harry (Pedro Pascal). Rich, good-looking and nice, he is not so much interested in her services as in her. At that same wedding, Lucy also runs into her ex-boyfriend John (Chris Evans), a struggling actor who caters the event. Lucy has to find out whether perfect on paper is good enough, and whether old mistakes can be changed.

I expected Materialists to be a sweet RomCom, giving us the same old platitudes about love conquering all that we have heard a million times already in a very pretty and entertaining way. And while that is not a completely wrong description of the film, it is also selling it short: Materialists allows for a lot more complexity than I thought it would, and actually prompted a good bit of discussion for me.

Materialists constructs is narrative basically as a thought experiment. On the one hand, Lucy has Harry. He offers her the life she has always dreamed of, he is hot, rich and smart (a unicorn, as he is referred to in the film), and he is honestly interested in her. But while there is attraction and fondness, they don’t really cross the line into love. On the other hand, there’s John. He, too, is hot and smart, but he is far from rich. What he is, though, is in love – and that is not just some empty gesture for him, it means being emotionally available and caring. The problem is, though, that they already tried a relationship – and they were ground down by the trivial stresses of being poor.

So, how should Lucy decide between these two options, when she so clearly sees in her job that the dating market is just that: a market. And the wealthy people usually win. Lucy knows the truth firsthand: money may not be able to buy you happiness, but not having any money will definitely make you unhappy (at least in a capitalist society). She was an interesting character also because she has grown cynical in many ways, but she still has an ethical core – and she is also clear about just liking expensive things, and that is not some kind of moral failure on her part. It’s just what she likes.

With this set-up, Celine Song gives her characters just enough individuality for them to function as people, but not so much to take away from them also being archetypes. She is honest enough to admit that being poor means being under pressure – and that this is dangerous for relationships. But she is also romantic enough that in the end, she allows for an end from the heart with the help of a little narrative convenience (John’s grand declaration was probably the film’s weakest part, and it still mostly worked). It is also a very pretty movie filled with beautiful people in great sets and costumes.

Watching Johnson, Pascal and Evans is already a pleasure in itself. But they give us such beautiful performances and have so much chemistry with each other (and no chemistry when it’s necessary that there is none), that it really elevates the entire thing a little further. It may not be the perfect film, but it is really damn good.

Summarizing: very much worth it.