Materialists film review: This tale offers some uncomfortable takes on the romcom trope but ending is predictable

The Sun

a day ago

MATERIALISTS
(15) 117mins
★★★☆☆
'THE difference between dating and love is that dating is difficult and love is easy,' declares Lucy (Fifty Shades Of Grey's Dakota Johnson).
And she has set up nine first encounters between strangers that resulted in an 'I do', so she should know.
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Lucy is a 30-something professional matchmaker in New York, where chance meet-cutes are off the table and betrothal is a business transaction.
Her wealthy clients are her commodities, and matrimony closes the deal.
In the agency where Lucy works, staffed solely by shrieking women with blow dries and high heels, the database of single men and women all hoping to be connected with 'the one' are given impersonal monikers and their vital statistics — net worth, weight and personality — are ruthlessly dissected.
Expectations are high while the merchandise is often — literally — low.
Males of diminutive stature be forewarned: the height of men is made to be a very big deal here and measuring in under 5ft 11in referred to as negative.
Balding, overweight, egotistical men demand to be set up with 'fit' 20- something females but, as Lucy notes wryly, no man is ugly 'they just don't have money'.
Meanwhile ordinary women in their thirties continually fall by the wayside.
'I just want to settle for someone,' laments 37-year-old singleton Sophie, the normal girl who guys with high opinions of themselves aren't interested in.
It's a situation that anyone who has been at the sharp end of the dating scene will relate too, even if the swipe-right world of singles apps is never mentioned here.
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But Lucy's personal life isn't following the script.
'Born poor', her head tells her to find a man who offers financial security.
Millionaire Harry (Pedro Pascal) ticks all the boxes.
He picks up the bill, is kind and keen to put a gigantic ring on it.
But her heart says otherwise, thanks to the reappearance of John (Chris Evans), her financially unstable actor ex.
Does Lucy want a life of luxury or is it more important to find a 'Grave buddy'? Writer-director Celine Song's (Past Lives) tale offers some sharp, and uncomfortable takes on the romcom trope and lifestyles buffed up with the sheen of money hold your attention.
But the love-triangle leads lack some chemistry and the ending is predictable.
NOBODY 2
(15) 89mins
★★★☆☆
EVEN assassins need a break and with family time falling by the wayside in favour of dispatching bodies, Hank (Better Call Saul's Bob Odenkirk) decides a holiday is in order.
Nostalgic for his childhood vacations, he whisks wife Becca (Gladiator's Connie Nielsen) and their offspring to retro waterpark Plummerville.
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But the tourist town turns out to be filled with crime -lords, so Hank is reluctantly back to the day job.
Reprising their roles from the 2021 original – where Hank revealed himself to be a cold-blooded hitman living as an ordinary Dad – he and 'Momma Bear' Becca continue to make a convincing couple.
Quick-fisted son Brady (Gage Munroe) shows traits towards the family trade and there's non-stop action set pieces from director Timo Tjahjanto.
The violence is extreme but with Hank clad in garish vacation shirts and hats it also serves up laughs and feels slapstick.
Think lacerated eyeballs and decapitations but on fairground rides, and duck-themed river boats.
Sharon Stone plays drug-lord Lendina and there are morals about family values for good measure.
It's brutal, big-screen fun. But if you don't like your action with a bit of silliness it probably won't convince.
Laura Stott
★★★☆☆
REAL-LIFE couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie headline this semi-comedic body horror from first-time writer-director Michael Shanks.
They play Tim and Millie, an amiable yet co-dependent pair who swap the bustle of the city for the supposed tranquillity of a small rural town, only to find something altogether darker lurking beneath.
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Millie, a teacher, greets the move with enthusiasm, seeing it as a fresh start.
Tim, a musician whose dreams of stardom are receding fast, is far less convinced.
Their uneasy adjustment is halted when they stumble upon a mysterious subterranean chamber during a walk in the woods.
Trapped overnight, they emerge to find something has followed them home, a presence that feeds on their deepest insecurities.
Shanks plays with the metaphor of romantic co-dependency through the lens of horror, blending bodily mutation with creeping psychological unease.
This works up to a point, but the film often lays its allegory on too thick, leaving little to unpick.
What keeps it watchable is Franco and Brie's chemistry, which lends heart to the grisly absurdity.
A flawed but intriguing debut.