Love is easy.
At least, that’s what Celine Song’s sophomore feature, Materialists, aims to prove to its audience.
Materialists follows Lucy (Dakota Johnson), an experienced New York City matchmaker who views modern dating as simple math. When a girl asks for a 6-foot, rich, handsome man, Lucy delivers.
John (Chris Evans) doesn’t check many boxes for women in modern dating. He survives paycheck to paycheck as a struggling theater actor and lives with three messy roommates. He, as Lucy’s ex-boyfriend, is the main reason that the next man she dates must be wealthy.
At a client’s wedding, Lucy runs into John again, but not before she meets Harry (Pedro Pascal), the groom’s brother. Harry is what matchmakers call a unicorn. He owns a $12 million penthouse in Tribeca, works in private-equity finance, and is impossibly suave. He and Lucy strike up a conversation, and before she knows it, Lucy is swept up in Harry’s charm.
Unlike most love triangle plots in cinema, Materialists isn’t your typical rom-com. In Song’s tried and true style—following the success of 2023’s Past Lives—it’s a romantic drama that scrapes the edges of 2000s rom-coms like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Instead of aiming to please the audience with electrifying banter or hilarious character decisions, the film resonates most deeply through thoughtful dialogue and warm cinematography.
For most, films featuring silences between conversations and longing looks are overly drawn out or boring—but for me, they’re my favorite type of movie.
A particular scene from Materialists comes to mind when considering Song’s style of filmmaking. Lucy and John, somewhat reconciled, drive to Upstate New York and attend a stranger’s wedding. Sitting on barrels outside a rustic barn, they watch as the lovely couple say their vows near a winding creek. John asks Lucy, “Why does anyone get married?” Lucy shrugs, and a few moments later, says wistfully, “Because they’re lonely. And because they’re hopeful.”
A meditative score plays in the background, accompanying Lucy and John’s thoughts as they ruminate on their past relationship together and the love that lingers in the space between them.
Song displays love between the film’s characters in near-silent, dream-state moments, when characters will take a moment to simply look at each other and drink in their presence. It’s deeply romantic and eloquent, which is refreshing in a time when life is increasingly fast-paced and digital.
This is an authenticity that’s rare in film—connections that feel soulfully romantic rather than flirty chemistry. Johnson, Evans, and Pascal find a moving dynamic with one another, their characters savoring the moments they experience with a lived-in feeling.
As for the classic, satirical edge of a rom-com, Materialists makes sure to remind its audience of its purpose: the messy ways that modern dating has sucked the life from romance.
At Adore Matchmaking, Lucy’s place of employment, the matchmakers sell love to clients through thoughtfully packaged lists. Although these two people have never met one another, if the boxes fit, they will fall in love.
Unfortunately, as Lucy learns, love isn’t defined by height, weight, or salary. As she progresses in her relationships with both Harry and John, she views them through the lens of their materialistic commodities, rarely pausing to question her true feelings for either one. When meeting with clients, she becomes increasingly annoyed by their rapacious demands, which lack the soul that romance is supposed to contain.
In the end, Lucy finds that love didn’t sprout in expensive dates and wealth, but rather, in the quiet moments of just conversing together, thoughtfully offering one another perspective. With her choice, she re-discovers her honesty, tossing aside her learned cynicism.
I found this depiction of love especially intriguing and insensibly beautiful. I consume romantic media quite often, and yet, I haven’t come across a film that is so searing but gentle in its approach to love. On paper, financial stability seems like the easy choice, but love is rarely that simple.
Inspired by its themes, I walked out of the theater feeling emotional and light on my feet. Materialists, despite its title, made me believe that true love is possible, even in a society where Snapchat is the quickest way to a date.
