Original caricature by Jeff York of Dakota Johnson in MATERIALISTS (copyright 2025).
Celine Song is a writer/director I want to see a film from every year.
Her films may be modestly budgeted and somewhat niche, but her storytelling ability, technical acumen, and ability with actors are all sublime. Her latest, right after her Oscar-nominated Best Picture nominee PAST LIVES from two years back, is entitled MATERIALISTS and it is another winner.
The film not only revives the rom-com, albeit with a tilt towards dramedy, but it gives terrific, meaty roles to its trio of performers: Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans. Even more substantially, Song has a lot to say about the modern world of dating and how today’s singles are overly entitled, myopic, and unrealistic, and all that makes for a stinging but droll comedy. Her dialogue is pointed and wickedly funny, but it brushes up against poignancy too. Song is not only a knowing editorialist about love and romance, but she’s something of an anthropologist too as she insightfully examines homo sapiens and their flagrant inability to find happiness.
In MATERIALISTS, Johnson plays Lucy, a high-end matchmaker working for a dating service in Manhattan that caters to a clientele willing to pay top dollar to find Mr. or Mrs. Right. Lucy takes pride in how well she can match people up, determining who is the right via complex questionnaires, preference balancing, and gut instinct. She’s cool as a cucumber, but she does care about her matches and gets a little nervous each time she calls a client to see how the date went. Lucy invests so much in others because she herself is shockingly single. Sure, she’s smart, witty, successful, not to mention a fashion plate and a genuine beauty, but the thirtysomething has been burned badly by a man in the past and now she’s almost gun-shy
That man is a struggling actor named John, playing with the right about of roguish charm and wincing vulnerability by Chris Evans. Evans also gives him an edge, anger just under the surface, frustrated with himself for still waiting for his big break and rooming with two immature losers. He crosses paths with Lucy working as a waiter at a wedding where two of Lucy’s clients are getting hitched. He thinks it’s fortuitous, the chance to reconnect with her, but wouldn’t you know it, she’s already attracted a suitor from the groom’s party. The best man is Harry (Pedro Pascal), a suave and confident finance whiz with a 12-million-dollar apartment filled with almost as many expensive knick-knacks as the MoMa.
Harry quietly but assertively pushes Lucy to go out on a date with him and she reluctantly agrees. Of course, they have a good time and it doesn’t hurt that he takes her to a tony restaurant, definitely out-of-reach in her price range. On the date, and subsequent ones after, the two discuss the trials and tribulations of trying to find a mate and this is where Song really digs deep. Lucy sees the world of dating as math and measurement, fixing people up via the best algorithms modern technology affords her, more calculator and balance sheet than valentines and romance. Harry thinks dating should be something more – attraction and chemistry – but it doesn’t hurt that he’s so rich that she can’t help but give into her baser, more materialistic instincts.
Of course, Song tightens the screws by having needy John come-a-callin’ for Lucy’s approval. He wants her to see him in the play he’s been cast in, plus he wants her forgiveness for ruining their relationship years earlier because he was so poor and futureless then. Ultimately, Lucy will have to make a choice between the two men and what they can offer her. She talks a big game about the desire to not struggle, but even her dates with the kind Harry feel like they take effort on her part. It makes for a fascinating character study of Lucy and Johnson aces the role, giving the best screen performance of her career to date. Her Lucy is complicated, sometimes wildly alluring, other times a bit too stubborn and finicky. Johnson holds the screen well with her smart, intense eyes and you can see her thinking. She also exudes elegant body language which gives her maturity and sophistication even when she’s dressed down.
Pascal and Evans are terrific, exhibiting good chemistry with Johnson and making both her choices decent ones on various levels. It’s a wonderful trio of performances and Song has created compelling characters that you might want to spend more time with. (Perhaps she should try a miniseries next.)
MATERIALISTS showcases the often funny faults of many of Lucy’s clients too. Their expectations are often ludicrous, and while many have big savings accounts, but they lack little self-awareness. Such moments in the movie are both hilarious and pitiable. Everyone craves love, but do they really have what it takes to put themselves out there? It’s another great question Song raises, one that makes MATERIALISTS so clever, amusing, and yet, a touch tragic. All in all, it’s expert storytelling, and I hope that Song continues to put herself and her talents out there for the rest of us to love.
