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Atlantic
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Atlantic
A Love Story That's Afraid of Romance
Modern dating, experts have lamented, has become a numbers game; the more matches you make, the more likely you are to land a mate. But in the new film Materialists, the only number that really matters is a suitor's net worth. Take Harry (played by Pedro Pascal), for example: He's a partner in a private-equity firm and the owner of a $12 million penthouse apartment in Manhattan. John (Chris Evans), meanwhile, lives paycheck to paycheck as an aspiring actor and part-time cater waiter who splits his rent with roommates. Between the two of them, Harry's the obvious 'unicorn'—the most desirable kind of bachelor, according to Lucy (Dakota Johnson), a professional matchmaker and the film's protagonist. Lucy sees dating as a marketplace of potential spouses whose worth is determined by their income as much as their looks. Never mind their interests or how they'd treat a partner; a guy like Harry is inherently more valuable than someone like John. Lucy isn't heartless. Rather, she sees herself as pragmatic about modern romance. Materialists, the writer-director Celine Song's follow-up to her sensitive Oscar-nominated feature, Past Lives, tracks Lucy as she finds matches for her clients, many of whom also think about future partners as commodities. The men tell her that they want women under a certain BMI and age; the women want men above a certain height and tax bracket. As amused as she might sometimes be by their demands, Lucy promises to introduce them to their 'grave buddy.' To her, finding love should be easy—it's just math, she likes to say—yet Lucy's own love life has remained stagnant. She asserts to anyone who asks that she'll either marry rich or die alone. This being a romantic dramedy, Lucy ends up in something of a love triangle anyway: She falls for Harry while harboring a lingering affection for John, who happens to be her ex. But her predicament isn't really about which suitor she'll choose; instead, she's caught between two versions of herself—the cash-strapped idealist who once pursued acting alongside John, and the polished working girl she's become. The core conflict of Materialists is similar to that of Past Lives, yet Song renders it less successfully here. Lucy's journey takes too many cynical turns to be satisfying, and the film's ideas are too scattershot to be convincing. Materialists falters most when it tries to mesh its competing aims: to deliver a throwback love story while also deconstructing the reality of modern dating. Instead, in the end, the film resembles the very world it tries to critique, offering a litany of observations about finding The One without ever substantially arguing for any of them. The film's glossy veneer of confidence, much like that of its lead, belies an uncertainty. Apart from some punchy dialogue probing the economy of marriage, its tale is shallow, with almost nonexistent stakes. John and Harry pose little challenge to Lucy's notions about partners needing to check each other's superficial boxes; both are handsome and smitten with her, and the disparity in their wealth never presents much of an obstacle for Lucy either. She had taken issue with John's poverty when they were together, as shown in a clunkily inserted flashback, but his finances are a mere asterisk to their present-day dynamic. Lucy is as thinly written as her suitors—a nod, maybe, to the threadbare profiles of app-fueled dating, but one that makes her a frustratingly inscrutable romantic lead. It doesn't help that Johnson, whose flat affect can be an asset in enigmatic dramas such as The Lost Daughter, isn't particularly believable as a woman with hang-ups about money. (If she's the provenance behind ' iPhone face ' in the misguided Netflix adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion, here she has what I call 'property-portfolio face.') The bigger problem, however, lies in Lucy's inelegant transformation from a skeptic about love to a wholehearted believer in it. When her most persistent client, Sophie (Zoë Winters), is sexually assaulted on a date, Sophie alternates between being furious at and grateful for Lucy, leaving the third act a confused mess. Although Winters captures Sophie's despair, her character gets compressed into a plot point and her arc produces a jarring shift in mood. Lucy's realization that she should, as Sophie advises her, treat her clients as more than 'merchandise' rings hollow as a result. Not to sound like someone still pining for an ex, but Materialists made me miss the work Song did in Past Lives. In that film, which followed a married woman yearning for the person she used to be after reconnecting with her childhood crush, Song used intimate specificity to unearth reflections about love—romantic, platonic, and otherwise. In Materialists, the director has essentially done the opposite: Her characters are mouthpieces for broad philosophies about connection, while their stories end up getting buried. The effect is a work that's tonally at odds with itself. Though Materialists is similarly packed with insightful monologues, it's heavy-handed in a way that Past Lives never was. Song bookends her latest with sappy scenes of prehistoric humans falling in love, and she injects flippancy into moments that call for sentimentality: When Lucy and Harry finally have a much-needed conversation, the script incorporates an absurd bit of physical comedy that undermines the poignancy of their heart-to-heart. There's much about Song's movie that I enjoyed. The fizzy sequences of Lucy meeting one client after the next, inspired by the director's own experience as a matchmaker, remind me of classics such as Broadcast News; they offer a glimpse into a gig that consumes a person whole. Besides, there's a real pleasure in seeing Hollywood stars fall for each other. But in trying to both critique and poke fun at the costs of modern love, Materialists never coheres into an emotionally potent tale. To put it in Lucy's terms: The film is beautiful and smart, and it clearly contains enough appeal to make it stand out in the marketplace. It's just no unicorn.
Daily Maverick
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Maverick
Materialists — Save the date for a witty but biting take on modern relationships
Past Lives filmmaker Celine Song pairs glossy romance with uncomfortably sharp insights on modern dating in Materialists, where a love triangle is shaped by Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans. For the second consecutive year, cinemagoers are being treated to a romance that is more than its shiny exterior and good-looking cast suggest it will be. Last year, it was the Blake Lively-starring It Ends With Us, where the pretty people love triangle actually incorporated toxic relationships, domestic violence and repeated patterns of abuse. Now, in 2025, we have Materialists, which presents as a sleek and smart romantic comedy, only to pierce through the facade like a boba tea straw to reach the juiciest bits at the bottom: sharp-tasting insights about modern dating that can be tough to swallow. Then again, Materialists is released by A24 (in the US at least) and written, directed and produced by acclaimed playwright-turned-filmmaker Celine Song. Song's 2023 big screen romance Past Lives was nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars, and was celebrated for its nuanced exploration of the human condition, specifically the complexities of past and present love, which can exist simultaneously. The point is that neither Song nor A24 sticks to the conventional. There's always something creatively ambitious and artful flowing through the veins of their projects, and Materialists is no different. Though it centres on matchmaking, Materialists is no breezy and cute Hitch clone. Lead character Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a successful matchmaker in New York City. While she's great with a sales pitch about finding love, Lucy approaches dating like a business investment. All her behind-the-scenes discussions are about assets, value, probability and maths. She has no interest in relationships of her own, until the wedding of one of her clients — the peak achievement of her profession — brings both dashing millionaire Harry Castillo (Pedro Pascal) and Lucy's struggling actor ex John (Chris Evans) into her life. Who will our heroine choose? Will the film stick to genre expectation, with a 'love is all you need' message, or will it chart its own course? Materialists doesn't dabble with its decision for too long actually, resulting in a final act that feels drawn out, and low on energy. Before that, though, the film excels at showing what dating has become in the 21st Century – a mix of mercenary entitlement and desperation, with marriage the end goal, no matter what. Settling is fine; just make sure it results in you walking down the aisle and coupled up. In Materialists, Song has characters vocalising the unsaid, admitting their most selfish drives in ticking off this particular life box. Viewers should be aware that Materialists is a romantic comedy in the same sense that restaurant series The Bear is considered comic. The humour arrives in momentary pricks. It's dark, sharp and entirely dialogue delivered. Lucy's clients act like they're ordering off a restaurant menu, and while hobbies and political views may get a mention, the vast majority of partner wants are appearance-based and materialistic: age, height, body type, income. No compromise. No consideration of character. It's a shocking and sad commentary on what makes someone a viable life companion today. And yet Song doesn't simply slap a judgment on these superficial priorities. Once more, she presents and then unpacks them, largely through the self-aware character of Lucy. Is it wrong to want financial security? Are you a bad person if love and hope of better days aren't enough to keep you in a relationship? Johnson is an acquired taste as a performer, owing to her subdued delivery (especially in comparison with the warm and effortlessly charismatic Pascal and Evans), but it makes sense for the character of clinical and cynical Lucy. There's also the bonus meta pleasure of remembering that Johnson was Anastasia Steele in the Fifty Shades films, a woman won over through lavish acts of affection despite her partner's constant red flag behaviour. Lucy appreciates demonstrations of wealth, but her eyes are always wide open, looking out and inward as she assesses her response. There's a sense that critics may appreciate Materialists more than mainstream audiences, because of the film's cerebral and contemplative nature, versus being powered by passion in keeping with romcom tradition. That said, anyone should be able to appreciate the film's perceptiveness, however uncomfortable it is to look in the mirror held up by Song — one that seems gilded from a distance but is actually quite grubby and dirt-flecked on closer inspection, like even the most perfect appearing life. Materialists may be more glossy and escapist than Past Lives, but its observations still ring true. DM
Tatler Asia
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Tatler Asia
11 films with love triangles to get you ready for ‘Materialists'
Past Lives (2023) Above The film stars Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro (Photo: IMDb) In Materialists director Celine Song's feature film debut, two childhood friends contemplate the nature of their relationship as they grow apart, live separate lives and finally reunite. The film stars Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro. The Notebook (2004) Above The film stars Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Marsden and James Garner (Photo: IMDb) A young couple in the 1940s falls passionately in love despite obstacles trying to keep them apart. Directed by Nick Cassavetes, the film stars Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Marsden and James Garner. The Dreamers (2003) Above Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, the film stars Eva Green, Louis Garrel and Michael Pitt (Photo: IMDb) Set against the backdrop of the 1968 Paris student riots, a young American student becomes entangled in a strange dynamic with a French brother and sister. Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, the film stars Eva Green, Louis Garrel and Michael Pitt. Y Tu Mamá También (2001) Above The film stars Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal and Maribel Verdú (Photo: IMDb) In this seminal coming-of-age drama, two teenage best friends embark on a road trip with an older woman across rural Mexico. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, the film stars Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal and Maribel Verdú. Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) Above The film stars Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant (Photo: IMDb) Bridget Jones, a thirty-something single woman in London, decides to start keeping a diary while she searches for love. Directed by Sharon Maguire, the film stars Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant. My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) Above The film stars Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney and Cameron Diaz (Photo: IMDb) A New York City food critic attempts to sneakily sabotage her lifelong best friend's wedding to a wealthy college student. Directed by PJ Hogan, the film stars Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney and Cameron Diaz. The Age of Innocence (1993) Above The film stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer (Photo: IMDb) Based on the novel by Edith Wharton, this Gilded Age romance follows a wealthy lawyer drawn to a mysterious countess despite his engagement to her cousin. Directed by Martin Scorsese, the film stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer. Sabrina (1954) Above The film stars Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden (Photo: IMDb) A chauffer's daughter returns home from Paris and catches the attention of both a playboy bachelor and his business-minded brother. Directed by Billy Wilder, the film stars Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden. The Earrings of Madame de… (1953) Above The film stars Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux and Vittorio de Sica (Photo: IMDb) An aristocratic woman sets off a series of unexpected events after she sells a pair of earrings given to her by her husband. Directed by Max Ophüls, the film stars Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux and Vittorio de Sica. Gone with the Wind (1939) Above The film stars Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable and Leslie Howard (Photo: IMDb) This historical epic follows a manipulative Southern belle and a roguish bachelor as they endure the collapse of their high-class society during and after the American Civil War. Directed by Victor Fleming, the film stars Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable and Leslie Howard. NOW READ 12 best Hollywood films about Hollywood 10 inspirational sports films to watch 7 times that 'Oscar baiting' worked for films
Mint
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Mint
Materialists OTT release: Where to watch Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal's rom-com?
Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal team up for Materialists, the latest film from director Celine Song. The film brings back the romantic comedy era to the big screen. The film was released in the US on 13 June, fans anywhere else have to wait a little bit longer. Materialists will be out for the international audience on 16 August. Despite the traditional window between a theatrical and OTT release, it seems Materialists won't be out on OTT anytime soon. The film is currently not available on any digital platform. Going by its distribution arrangements, the film won't debut on Netflix, as per multiple reports. Materialists is backed by A24, the studio that recently signed a content deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, making Max (formerly HBO Max) the main streaming home for A24's upcoming releases. Reportedly, the Dakota Johnson-film will opt for Max for its digital release. While makers are yet to confirm details about the film's OTT release, it is likely to debut on the platform under the "Pay-1" window agreement between A24 and Warner Bros Discovery, reported Economic Times. Under these kinds of deals, movies typically start streaming after they finish their time in a theatrical run. They are released for digital purchase or rental service. The recent A24 film, Babygirl, followed the same strategy and began streaming on Max for almost four months after it hit theatres. If Materialists follows a similar schedule, it could be available to buy or rent online by July 2025 reportedly. Similarly, the film can be streamed online on Max around October 2025, as per the report. However, these timelines are just estimates and may change depending on the film's box office performance. If you're planning to stream Materialists when it releases on OTT, Max offers subscription plans starting at $9.99 per month with ads, or $16.99 per month for an ad-free experience. Max is also included in Disney+ bundles, which combine Hulu and Max. Set in New York City, Materialists follows the story of a love triangle between three people, played by Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal. Playing a matchmaker, Dakota is caught between her ex and her ideal match. The film also stars Zoe Winters, Marin Ireland, Dasha Nekrasova, Louisa Jacobson and Sawyer Spielberg. The film is a follow-up of Celine Song's Oscar-nominated film Past Lives.
Elle
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Elle
How To Watch 'Materialists' In The UK - See Celine Song's Reinvention Of The Rom-Com
Director Celine Song returns with her highly anticipated sophomore feature, Materialists, a sharp, modern take on romance rooted in New York City's elite dating scene. Following her Oscar-nominated debut with Past Lives, Song shifts from quiet longing to a more incisive, but equally intimate, look at how the search for true love intersects with money and class. The film stars Dakota Johnson as Lucy, a professional matchmaker whose career revolves around helping others find love based on compatibility metrics—sometimes as straightforward as income, age, and status. But when her personal life collides with her work, Lucy finds herself at the center of her own complicated love triangle, torn between Harry (Pedro Pascal), a wealthy private equity client who seems to check every box, and John (Chris Evans), her struggling actor ex who still knows her in a way few others do. While Materialists carries the breezy energy of a classic rom-com, Song layers the story with a deeper examination of the transactional facets of modern dating. As she explained to ELLE US, her time spent working as a real-life matchmaker while building her playwriting career exposed her to the unsettling ways people sometimes quantify love. 'While I was a matchmaker, I was asking my clients to describe their ideal partner and the answers were all numbers: height, weight, income, age… While I understood why they were asking for those things, I knew from being in love myself that that's just not at all what love is about or feels like. So [making this] movie was about [striking] the balance between the practical and the fantasy of true love,' she said. For Johnson, Lucy's internal conflict lies at the heart of the film.'She's at a very interesting time in her life where she's sort of teetering between two worlds,' Johnson told Entertainment Weekly. 'Allowing yourself to be loved is scary, and really loving another person is scary. It's a story of bravery.' Though the film nods to the feel of '90s romantic comedies, Song is clear that Materialists isn't simply a lighthearted love triangle. 'I would actually be more interested in it being talked about as a story of Lucy as she navigates not just the love and dating world in her clients' lives, but also her own personal reality and beliefs about love,' she added. One of the film's most memorable moments comes early on, when Lucy casually orders a 'Coke and beer' at a wedding—a strange combination that, as Song explained to GQ, reveals much about her character's working-class roots and serves as a quiet signal of her history with John, who knows her well enough to bring her the drink without asking. 'It speaks to Lucy's character, about her background, and where she comes from,' Song said. 'It's meant to be a weird thing—which is why it's so special that John knows her drink order.' Materialists is released in the UK on August 15 in cinemas.. While A24 has not yet confirmed an exact streaming release date, the film is expected to eventually land on HBO Max in the US, as part of A24's ongoing streaming partnership with Warner Bros. Previous A24 titles like Priscilla and Babygirl have followed a similar release pattern. If this is the case, it then usually follows that the film comes to Sky and NOW TV in the UK. For now, the film is exclusively available in cinemas from August. ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE. Moriel is the editorial and social media assistant at covering celebrity, culture, and fashion. She previously wrote for The Daily Front Row. When she's off work, you can find her with her nose in a book, taking a dance class, or online shopping.
