| Worth seeing: | for some thought-provoking exploration of the nature of love and relationships, in a film that feels as anti-climactic as a mediocre date |
| Director: | Celine Song |
| Featuring: | Chris Evans, Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, Dasha Nekrasova, Eddie Cahill, John Magaro, Joseph Lee, Louisa Jacobson, Marin Ireland, Sawyer Spielberg, Zoë Winters |
| Length: | 117 minutes |
| Certificate: | 15 |
| Country: | US |
| Released: | 13th August 2025 |
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is an upscale New York City matchmaker at an upscale New York City dating agency. Her colleagues throw her a party when she clocks up her ninth marriage.
At the wedding, the groom’s brother, a filthy-rich financier Harry (Pedro Pascal), overhears what she does and takes an interest – not in her services – but in her.
Despite claiming she is not looking for love, Lucy is tempted…
…until she turns around and sees her ex-boyfriend, a struggling actor John (Chris Evans), among the waiting staff.
All her old feelings start flooding back. She dumped him, a few years back, because he was poor and had no prospects – all these years later, he’s still poor, with no prospects – but having worked as a matchmaker, she has a better idea of what makes relationships work. Or does she?
Is she finally ready for a real relationship? And if so, does she want to move forwards with a funny, warm, generous, wealthy, sexy financier with a multi-million dollar Manhattan apartment – or move backwards, with a poor actor, working as a waiter to pay his rent in his grotty shared flat?’
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
Hot on the heels of her Oscar-nominated debut, Past Lives, expectations for writer-director Celine Song’s follow-up have been high, and as Materialists begins, with its snappy dialogue and sharp observations on experiences of love and dating, it feels like she is going to meet them.
The smart-talking touches on what makes a successful relationship in ways that are not often explored, upending the certainties Lucy has always placed on her work – when perfect clients simply cannot find a match or when dates go spectacularly wrong. When she’s forced to re-examine her own feelings that she starts to question everything she believes in – finding out that she is, perhaps, more shallow than she cares to admit.
The slick production design, smooth performances and thought-provoking analysis of life and love soon give way to more predictable fare, as Lucy starts to reassess her own priorities – does she want to be treated like a princess or feel true passion, from the bottom of her heart. And when she finally makes her decision, will her man of choice still be there waiting for her?
Perhaps more frustrating is the time it takes to get to its inevitable conclusion, once it becomes clear where it’s going. There are conflicting arguments to suggest that it would work equally well if either the first half or the second half were truncated – or even removed altogether – but if either half of the story is dispensable, let alone both, it suggests that what could have been as profound as it is charming ends up superficial and banal. The twists and turns of the story, as it limps to the finish line, feel increasingly arch.
What starts as a sharp, warm and witty exploration of love and relationships collapses under the weight of the expectation as it takes too long to get to an underwhelming conclusion that is predictable from the midway point.
Materialists is – in its own way – like the relationships it depicts – starting with some enjoyable dates but becoming increasingly unsatisfying when it becomes clear that it doesn’t really offer anything fresh or profound and it fails to live up to its own promise, as it ends up feeling as anti-climactic as a mediocre date.
And rather than satirising the wealthy, it ends up feeling as shallow as the people it portrays.