TMS Movie Review: Materialists
(2AM / A24)
Finally, after five whole weeks of getting through mediocre viewing experiences of new releases, I have another 2025 movie I generally enjoyed. It doesn’t take a lot for me to like romantic comedies and dramedies as a lifelong fan of the subgenres, so it makes sense I vibed with Celine Song’s Materialists. A film that doesn’t entirely reinvent the wheel regarding the romcom genre but still adds some fresh perspectives we don’t usually see acknowledged in fictional love stories. While I wasn’t as sold on Song’s acclaimed debut, Past Lives (2023), as much as most film fans, Materialists is a natural step forward for both Song’s career and craft.
Here, Lucy Mason (Dakota Johnson) is the most popular matchmaker in modern day NYC. She has her skill down to a science and builds relationships like a genuine business. Because she’s so good at her job and is always talking to people looking for love, she’s constantly reminded of the flaws in both humanity and dating, and isn’t interested in a significant other herself. While attending the wedding of one of her clients, Lucy meets a hot shot private equity financer, Harry Castillo (Pedro Pascal), who is instantly intrigued by her reputation and persona; and simultaneously bumps into her old flame, John (Chris Evans), who is still trying to make it as a local theatre actor in between catering gigs. Zoë Winters co-stars as Lucy’s unlucky, most consistent client, Marin Ireland plays her superior at the matchmaking company, and podcaster Dasha Nekrasova appears as Lucy’s best friend.
(2AM / A24)
One thing which makes Materialists stand out as a romantic dramedy is how Lucy and most of the women in the film are transparent about how they won’t settle for men who don’t have a steady income; feeling the pressure of having a too tight of a budget would impact their happiness and the success of the relationships, hence the title Materialists. This is a theme usually ignored in mainstream studio romcoms, so the female protagonist doesn’t come across shallow. But Song didn’t just make a new, indie romcom, she instead commented on the status of the contemporary dating scene. The three leads speak to each other with heavy expository dialogue during date scenes that could have easily felt tacked on elsewhere, yet mostly lands tonally. Story wise, the plot is fairly basic and the outcome is easy to predict, feeling like an old JLo romcom, such as Adam Shankman’s The Wedding Planner (2001), with the “A24 aesthetic.” I’m actually surprised more people aren’t seeing the parallels to Jane Austen’s Emma (1815) and/or Amy Heckerling’s Clueless (1995) either, because a lot of Materialists also feels like Clueless with grown adults in 2025. But it takes a very serious turn in the middle of the second act regarding Winters’ character to remind us this particular cinematic romance isn’t a ‘real-life fairytale.’ There’s also a rather insane twist with Pascal’s character that may or may not work for some viewers.
Regarding the cast, Pascal and Evans are solid as Lucy’s completely different love interests with equal potential, and this might be the best performance of Johnson’s career so far; proving she has a very, very niche range that only works in two lanes: broad comedy and indie/artsy pictures. And being who I am, I enjoyed the retro/throwback mood of the soundtrack featuring artists like the Ronettes, Françoise Hardy, Harry Nilsson and the Velvet Underground. Though Materialists isn’t without flaws, I would say it has enough new spins worthy of checking out.