‘Materialists’ Review – Celine Song Makes Romance Feel Smart (and Sexy) Again | Hollywood Insider

Writer-director Celine Song is back with romantic dramedy ‘Materialists,’ bringing together an all-star trio of A-listers for her rumination on dating in the modern era. Opening with a sequence of two cave-people falling in love, it is clear the Song is still interested in the way time and love flow through each other, and all the words we cannot say to those we truly love. Starring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal, the film asks the eternal question: Should one marry for love, or guaranteed stability?

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Love is a Marketplace: Another Sharp Script from Song

Released by A24 and produced by veteran female producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, ‘Materialists’ is an inherently feminine story, interrogating the way dating (with all the apps, matchmakers, and pressures we can endure) has become a numbers game, and the fact that love, at its core, has become a business engagement.

“I’d never swipe right on a woman like that,” ‘her biological clock is ticking,” and “nothing over 20 BMI” are just some of the demands match-maker Lucy (Dakota Johnson) has to endure in her line of work. Lucy has come to understand love as a marketplace, dating as a set of criteria that must be met, as arbitrary as hairline and bust size. Dakota Johnson’s Lucy is as honest as she is whip smart; raised poor, Lucy wishes to marry a disgustingly rich man above all.

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The Children Around the World Continue to Ask the question

Anchored by a razor-sharp script and lush 35-mm cinematography by Shabier Kirchner (who also shot ‘Past Lives’), ‘Materialists’ follows Lucy, a former actress turned elite matchmaker who sees love as a commodity. Her services boast nine marriages, and she takes pride in her eternal-bridesmaid status– until Harry (Pedro Pascal) comes along to threaten her beliefs.

After meeting at a wedding, wealthy financier Harry and Lucy begin dating, and her world becomes a flurry of penthouse suites, 3-Michelin-star restaurants, and huge bouquets. Lucy is torn between these two men: the wealthy, handsome “unicorn” of Harry or the man who can tell in just a glance that Lucy is not doing well, John.

Here, Song balances scathing satire with genuine tenderness, transforming transactional dialogue into emotional revelations for the jaded Lucy. As much as she despises the childish ways her clients talk, she states or agrees with sentiments like “You’re not ugly, you just don’t have money,” or “Marriage is a business deal, it always has been.” The film reframes romance as capital, forcing us to face our culpability in a system of dating apps and swiping right in half a second. Lucy’s romances have become a numbers game, but beneath her pages of notes lies something more fragile: the ache for genuine love.

The script flirts with cynicism but never succumbs to it. After a dark, violent twist in Lucy’s career, one of her clients disciplines her: she states, “I am not merchandise. I am a person.” It’s an empowering declaration of self-worth that feels timely and timeless– a modern-day Emma, calibrated for an era of swipes and splits.

While ‘Materialists does not end with a grand romantic gesture, it lands on something more provocative and heartfelt: the notion that love, even when filtered through endless measurements, requirements, and “boxes,” still slips through the cracks. You can try your best to optimize for compatibility, but you cannot automate chemistry.

Celine Song’s Direction: From ‘Past Lives’ to Present Transactions

Celine Song’s debut feature film, ‘Past Lives’ (2023), was a revelatory, quiet, and melancholic meditation on what-could-have-beens. A cross-cultural tale of immigration and the things one leaves behind, ‘Past Lives’ announced New York playwright Celine Song as a must-watch newcomer on the film scene, and was nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay at the 2024 Oscars. With ‘Materialists,’ she pivots sharply, both in style and tone, but retains her signature blend of blunt sincerity and philosophical rigor. ‘Past Lives’ is an aching character study, and ‘Materialists’ is that with the added biting social comedy, all wrapped in silk and flanked by skyscrapers.

Born in South Korea and raised in Canada, Song began her career in theater with plays like ‘Endlings’ and ‘The Seagull on The Sims 4,’ both known for their genre-bending forms and metafictional play. That theatrical instinct is evident in her newest film, which often feels like a stage play supercharged with cinematic flair. Her writing is unafraid to be a bit didactic (“People are people are people are people’), but it’s never self-congratulatory. Like the best playwrights, she writes characters who argue with each other, with themselves, and with the audience.

Shot on 35mm, the film is visually rich and glowing with opulence and New York charm. Kirchner captures New York in hues of soft glamour (think Nancy Meyers’ lighting with the biting wit of Noah Baumbach). Song’s directorial eye is warm, grounded, and deeply human, never allowing her characters to become caricatures, even when they espouse wildly transactional philosophies on love.

Crucially, Song Song casts herself in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo (check every background poster and you’ll find it), cementing her presence in the lineage of auteur-driven romantic comedies. Like Nora Ephron and Greta Gerwig before her, she’s carving a space where female voices are both protagonists and architects of the story world.

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The Central Trio: Pascal, Evans, and Johnson at Their Best

At the film’s heart is a perfectly misaligned triangle, each vertex offering a different fantasy, each performance layered with unexpected depth. Dakota Johnson’s Lucy is one of her finest characters to date. Known in recent years for her dry wit and quiet vulnerability (‘The Lost Daughter, ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’), Johnson commands the screen with icy confidence and occasional flashes of ache. Her performance never tips into parody; instead, she plays Lucy as a woman who is hyperaware of her circumstances and how hollow her independence can sometimes feel. Her line delivery is less a confession and more an economic transaction, which makes it all more heartbreaking.

Chris Evans, fresh off a string of middling post-Marvel projects, is back and brings a messy, sad, yet passionate energy to John. He’s broke, almost out of idealism, and still nursing a wound from a suffering acting career. Evans taps into his theatrical roots here (he was nominated for his ‘Lobby Hero’ stage performance), leaning into subtle character work that feels unguarded and raw. His chemistry with Johnson flutters, and their relationship is imperfect, a wonderful playground for the two actors. They may understand each other, but they are not necessarily right for each other.

Pedro Pascal’s Harry is arguably the film’s most surprising turn. Cast against his usual father-figure type, Pascal plays a man who is suave, sexy, and a bit emotionally bankrupt. He delivers understated lines about marriage and love with a clinical edge. And yet, one cannot help but feel for him. He is not a typical, rich villain; he‘s also been infected by the new-age dating system. Pascal brings dignity to a role that could have been purely archetypal, elevating Harry into a symbol of what it means to be desirable and a bit dead inside.

The film wisely refrains from forcing Lucy to choose between the two. Instead, it lets the audience sit in the ambiguity, and try to choose for themselves. This is not about “Team Harry” or “Team John,” it’s about Lucy choosing herself and believing in her reasons for her choice.

The Rom-Com Renaissance: Is the Genre Back?

The late 2010s saw the death of the romantic comedy, full stop. The days of Meg Ryan, Sandra Bullock, and Julia Roberts gracing the big screen gave way to the rise of IP franchises and the collapse of the mid-budget movie. Rom-coms, once a Hollywood staple, were relegated to Netflix home screens and Hallmark formulas– often predictable, cloying, and nearly devoid of artistry.

But in the last few years, signs of life for the rom-com have emerged. ‘Anyone But You’ (2023) starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell surprised box offices with a $212 million take and old-school press tour charisma. Films like ‘Rye Lane’ and ‘The Worst Person in the World’ brought critical heft and visual style to the genre. Anne Hathaway’s ‘The Idea of You’ proved that there is a hunger for adult romance that is not afraid to be sexy, sincere, and a bit of a mess. Queer rom-coms life ‘Fire Island’ and ‘Happiest Season’ have added new life to a heteronormative genre.

‘Materialists’ arrives in this context, not as a nostalgic throwback, but as a full-throated evolution. It does not reject the rom-com’s pleasures (there’s swoon-worthy dialogue, designer outfits, and mistaken confessions galore), but it interrogates them. The genre, though nostalgically warm and oh-so-fun to watch on the couch, needs a revamp. ‘Materialists’ delivers.

Final Thoughts

I am very happy to have seen a film like ‘Materialists’ in theaters. I dragged my whole family along, and they liked it, too. While I sometimes found it a bit stale or out of reach, I cannot overstate the necessity to see mid-budget films in theaters. ‘Materialists’ is as familiar as it is new. One must row up and understand that Prince Charming might leave you for a girl with a better Tinder profile.

Song is not killing the rom-com with her deeply emotional scripts. By rooting her rom-com in the modern era, she brings a smart, funny, and true film to a multiplex usually filled with a lot of loud, excessive CGI. Can you love someone who does not share your tax bracket? Can you desire someone who sees you as an asset? Song’s answer is yes

By the film’s end, Lucy does not find perfect, storybook love, but she does get closer to clarity. And maybe that is the new romantic fantasy; not a white picket fence, but the ability to stress your value as a person.

In a year already crowded with franchise fare, ‘Materialists’ dares to believe in talking. In dating. In the slow, awkward, painful search for the one. And in doing so, it does not just revive the rom-com, it gives it an iPhone, but also a brain, backbone, and a whole lot of saccharine heart.

Cast: Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal, Dasha Nekrasova, Zoë Winters, Louisa Jacobson, Marin Ireland.

Crew: Directed and written by Celine Song, produced by Christine Vachon, Pamela Koffler, David Hinojosa, and Celine Song, cinematography by Shabier Kirchner, edited by Jin Lee, production design by Nora Mendis, costume design by Malgosia Turzanska, music by Daniel Rossen and Christopher Bear, produced by Killer Films and 2AM, distributed by A24.

By Leeann Remiker

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‘Materialists’ Review – Celine Song Makes Romance Feel Smart (and Sexy) Again

Love is a Marketplace: Another Sharp Script from Song

Celine Song’s Direction: From ‘Past Lives’ to Present Transactions

The Central Trio: Pascal, Evans, and Johnson at Their Best

The Rom-Com Renaissance: Is the Genre Back?

Final Thoughts

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