Materialists (2025): Love Is All You Need?

By Len Weiler

Materialists is the new movie written and directed by Celine Song, whose debut feature film Past Lives (2023), starring Greta Lee, was a critical smash - nominated for two Oscars (including Best Picture) winner of numerous other film festival awards in the USA and around the world. Past Lives did relatively well in its theatrical release as well – taking in over $40 million worldwide, despite being a relatively small budget picture, with a largely unknown director and no big name stars. Thanks to that film, Song is no longer an unknown director, and her new film, while still made on a comparatively small budget, features three attractive marquee stars: Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal. Released to theaters on June 13, Materialists has been doing well, having grossed over $45 million so far in its first three and a half weeks. 

Certainly, it is more commercial than Past Lives. Like that film, Materialists centers on a heroine faced with a choice between two very different men, but the story is painted on a much larger canvas with more subsidiary characters, a few secondary plot developments (which Past Lives pretty much lacked) and a richer, lavishly photographed role for the city of New York where most of both pictures takes place.  

Materialists is billed as a romantic comedy. That description is a bit misleading. [The rom-com is a genre on which I remarked at some length  in my recent review of Jane Austin Wrecked My Life].  Yes, the movie is most definitely about romance and ultimately is quite romantic. It surely has comic moments, but I’d say its aim is closer to social satire: a take-down of current conceptions and attitudes about dating and mating.  So maybe we should call it a rom-sat.

Here's the set-up: Lucy (Dakota Johnson) works as a matchmaker for a high-end dating agency called Adore. She’s very good at her job, the first part of which entails recruiting: finding well-off unattached people seeking the perfect match who feel they need a professional yenta to find them one. The second part, of course, is finding that perfect match for the lovelorn client. 

Every client has a wish-list. Such as: “I just want a guy who is well off, good looking, smart, funny, kind, and independent – also, in his late 30s at least 5’ 11”, and loves opera. That’s reasonable, right?”    And if Lucy finds a guy who checks all those boxes, that person will have their own checklist to reckon with. The difficulty is exemplified by the aphorism that the perfect is the enemy of good.  

Lucy herself is single and is resigned she’ll remain in that condition. Once upon a time, she was in love with a guy, John (a very sweet Chris Evans) - in fact, she still bumps into John sometimes and is still fond of him.  John is an aspiring actor, still waiting for his big break, still living with a couple of male roommates, still living hand to mouth making ends meet with periodic employment as a waiter with a catering outfit. Coming from a relatively poor family herself, Lucy has been busting her ass to make real money and, although still fond of John, she - like many of her clients - could never settle for someone who is not financially secure.

Then one day Lucy meets Harry, a guy who IS wealthy as well as charming, sophisticated and sincere - plus, he’s as ruggedly handsome as Pedro Pascal (played by Pascal). He is, essentially, the perfect client – a man all her lady clients would love to be matched with. But Harry doesn’t want to be a client. He wants Lucy – who looks like Dakota Johnson and checks all of his boxes. He’s the rare guy who doesn’t care that she doesn’t have money herself. Against her better judgment she starts to see him. 

So, are we headed into a love triangle here? I'll quote the official teaser for Materialists which suggests that Lucy “finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex”. But can you trust advertising?

The film does raise some interesting questions through its satirical side. Has the pursuit of romantic security becoming overly materialistic?  Is there no place for chemistry in the science of matchmaking. (IS there a science of matchmaking?) Do people even know what they want in a life partner? Is what they want actually what they need?   As most psychologists and dating app users will tell you – what we think we want may not be what (or who) we really want - or need. It turns out most people are fairly bad at predicting what will bring them happiness. 

All of which begs the question: Should matchmakers be required to carry professional liability insurance? 

This is a bigger movie than Past Lives but less intimate, less personal and ultimately not as special. Celine Song’s screenplay is not as tight as in her first picture, but Materialists feels fresher in a way and is often quite insightful – as when several characters acknowledge that what they are really seeking in a relationship is to feel ‘valuable’.  As a more commercial film, with big stars like Johnson, Pascal and Evans,  Materialists turns out to be engaging, entertaining, and fun to watch – largely due to the attractive lead performers and their charm, personal magnetism and craft. They are called stars because they shine. 

1 hour 56 minutes MPAA Rating: R [for language and brief sexual material]

Grade: B+

Currently in theaters. Per Forbes, Materialists is expected to begin streaming via PVOD [Premium Video on Demand – typically a $20 or so rental fee] on July 22. When the tariff will be reduced to “normal” rental rates is unknown as this is written.