5 days ago
Dakota Johnson's new movie takes on the ruthless world of New York Dating - but it's not your average rom-com?
Materialists
Cert: 15, 1hr 56mins
Matthew Bond review - Mail On Sunday
Rating:
The first film that screenwriter Celine Song directed as well as wrote was the delightful Past Lives (2023), which explored the choices we make in life, particularly when it comes to relationships.
It earned her an Oscar nomination, critical acclaim and, for an arthouse film, commercial success. Her follow-up, Materialists, is an altogether bigger affair with a cast led by Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans and explores similar territory only without the magic and gentle spirituality of its predecessor. That's because it's set in the ruthless world of New York dating.
Johnson plays Lucy, a successful senior executive at an agency that looks down its nose at apps and still believes in the old-fashioned art of match-making, at least for those who can afford it. Its demanding clients are not so much looking for love as wealth, good looks and compatible levels of education. For women, the height of a prospective husband is everything while, for men I'm afraid it's still youth.
But Lucy knows it's more complicated than that, which is why she's already on her ninth successfully arranged wedding.
So why is she herself still single, despite being magnificently courted by the absurdly eligible Harry (Pascal) while being shambolically pursued by her handsome but impoverished actor ex-boyfriend, John (Evans)?
Song's screenplay is smart, insightful and funny, albeit in a familiar Sex And The City kind of way. So it's probably a good thing it's also bleak, cynical and occasionally depressing, at least for balance. Johnson is excellent, the ubiquitous Pascal as charming as ever and Evans just a little bit too good to be true.
Materialists lacks the emotional depth of Past Lives but it's well-made, watchable and will make you think. And possibly hope, too.
Laruskha Ivan-Zadeh - Daily Mail review
Rating:
Do soul mates exist? That question unites the week's two biggest releases, which answer it in two, very different ways. Materialists is a movie about beautiful people chasing the perfect partner.
Lucy (Dakota Johnson) reckons she's got it all worked out. She's a professional matchmaker in Manhattan, responsible for nine weddings and counting, who firmly believes that 'Marriage is a business deal, and always has been, since time eternal.'
Commitment is not about love, it's about currency, market forces and 'math', with Lucy's personal 'non-negotiable' being that, as well as being tall and handsome with a full head of hair (be warned, this movie is not an ego-boost for shorter, bald men), her future husband will be eye-wateringly rich.
Enter hunk-of-the-moment Pedro Pascal, a tall, handsome, hirsute moneybags with a $12million penthouse in Tribeca.
However, this being a (sort of) romcom, also re-enter Lucy's ex, John (Chris Evans), a tall, handsome struggling theatre actor, with a head full of hair, but empty coffers, who Lucy broke up with because he was, er, broke.
So, who will win her hand?
The answer isn't as obvious as might first appear. Because this isn't cheese puff Hollywood escapism of the glossy sort that Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey popped out in the 2000s – it is the 'difficult' second feature from writer /director Celine Song, whose wistful romance Past Lives was arguably the finest film of 2023.
Materialists is similarly based on authentic lived experience. Song worked as a matchmaker when she first came to New York, and her script here poses interesting questions most of us can relate to about the balance sheet between romance and rationalism. Bottom line: are you really going to make it long term with someone of different background and values, particularly if you always end up squabbling about money?
Unfortunately, the Materialists' parts are better than its whole. Excellent and effortless as the three leads are, their dialogue can feel forced. Sometimes it's deliberate, like when Pascal's smoothy-chops woos Lucy with the line: 'I want to be with you for your immaterial assets.' But other times not. It is occasionally very witty and well-observed.
Song has set out to deconstruct the romcom, but the way she reconstructs it proves kind of disappointing. As we wait to find out if love conquers all, you will likely feel unconvinced by where the happy ending lies.
