Celine Song who exploded on the scene in 2023 with Past Lives, garnering her an Academy Award nomination is back with an unconventional take on the romantic comedy that is so much more heartfelt, devastating, and eye opening that absolutely devastates its audience and will make you re-examine current, past, and future relationships. It truly is a remarkable achievement that feels as if Rob Reiner took a mutated strain of the substance and became Celine Song to give us a modern, darker, When Harry Met Sally. Truly nothing can prepare audiences for Materialists as it’s an unconventional ‘romantic comedy’ but leans heavily into both aspects without holding its punches at any point.
Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is an ambitious matchmaker who lives in NYC and absolutely loves her job – in fact she’s so good at her job, we find her attending her umpteenth wedding for one of her clients. This is where she meets Harry (Pedro Pascal) the groom’s brother, who in the industry is called a unicorn. He is handsome, tall, has his hair, healthy, rich, etc – everything she wants to recruit to set up with her clients and make another perfect match. However, once they meet, John (Chris Evans) swoops in to serve Lucy her weird concoction she orders, beer and coke, and the two have a long embrace setting up that there is/was something there but clearly failed for one reason or another. As the film progresses, Harry continues to try and pursue Lucy while she is hesitant, and John tries to reconnect with Lucy sparking an intriguing and truly emotional love triangle that only Celine Song knows how to play off.
While this is the main story, there is a substory involving one of Lucy’s clients that gets her involved with her boss, Sophie (Zoe Winters) which takes a large precedent as well in the story and something that changes Lucy as a character and potentially influences her choices throughout the film as well. While we will not divulge into the specifics due to spoiler territory, Song choosing to include this in her film and discuss the downfalls of matchmaking and risks was certainly a bold choice, and one that brings a whole new level to the film itself.
Dakota Johnson may have broken out on the scene and become a household name thanks to Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, but her recent output of Suspiria, Bad Times at the El Royale, Cha Cha Real Smooth, Am I OK?, Daddio, and now Materialists prove that not only is she arguably one of the best actresses of her generation she is simply electric in Materialists. While she continues to prove how incredible of an actress she is and provides incredible, heart touching and memorable performances she is surrounded by three other people (one is a co-star vs a co-lead) who help not only elevate her but the movie as a whole. Pedro Pascal is simply sublime and delivers one of the of the most heartbreaking realizations in the movie, while Chris Evans gives a genuine career best with his heart on his sleeve extraordinary vulnerable performance. Zoe Winters is also simply excellent in her role as Sophia in Materialists, overall the entire cast brings it all together in one of the years best movies that continues to cement the legacy Celine Song is creating for herself.
Celine Song created one of the best movies of the year that is going to resonate with audiences for decades to come, this is a timeless story of romance, love, chaos, heartbreak and everything in between. It will be regarded in the same breath as films like When Harry Met Sally for the rest of time and could be argued it is even better but that is up to the audience to make that conclusion. Materialists is simply put a devastating gut punch to audiences that will leave them searching inside of themselves for years to come.
