Song makes matches in the world of ‘Materialists’

Cinema | June 17th, 2025

By Greg Carlson

Celine Song’s thrilling debut “Past Lives” was nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay Oscars. It was one of the most memorable and rewarding films of 2023. The writer-director’s sophomore effort, “Materialists,” is another triangle-based romance. “Materialists” centers on a successful NYC matchmaker played by Dakota Johnson. Johnson’s Lucy Mason, whose occupation requires a curious blend of deception and candor, finesses her desperate and lovelorn clients into eventual partnerships that sometimes end in marriage. Her front-row view of dating pitfalls and perils informs her own circumspection, putting her in a tricky spot between wealthy “unicorn” Harry Castillo (Pedro Pascal) and ex-boyfriend/struggling actor John Pitts (Chris Evans).

Song’s deconstruction of an entire genre is deceptively simple; how many movies have relied on two suitors representing the poles of economic success? But the filmmaker is a sharp scripter of dialogue and a skillful crafter of how the pauses between words can open up an equally rich visual vocabulary. Lucy meets Harry at the wedding of a couple she brought together. Harry is the brother of the groom. John is serving as a waiter at the same event. Song, whose own experiences working once upon a time as a matchmaker, knows enough about this world to give Lucy the bona fides necessary for viewers to believe. In real life, most of us mortals won’t ever face the exquisite torture of a choice between two people as beautiful as Pascal and Evans.

Johnson has, for some time, been a much better performer than critics would have you believe. Lucy is one of her juiciest roles yet. Together, Song and Johnson must convince us that Lucy, as a former actor, balances on the tightrope between charming, persuasive selling and whether she buys into these fantasies being peddled to others. “Materialists” works its most magical spells in the space where we can see Lucy struggling with the complexities of relationship-building as it rests on a spectrum that runs from stupid, crazy attraction to the more sober calculations of business partnerships and sound investments. Song’s excellent expressions on these matters routinely delight by undercutting obvious choices.

It is a bit disappointing, then, to unpack some of the less successful plotting that revolves around an assault perpetrated by a prospective date against a client played by Zoë Winters. While the grim and previously invisible realities of the job come roaring at Lucy hard enough to make her seriously question the ethics of her vocation, the resolution of this storyline strains the credulity previously established by Song. The heaviness, in my opinion, disqualifies “Materialists” as a potential romantic comedy. There is some warmth and some humor, but no evidence of the effortless type of Lubitsch Touch as presented in masterworks like “Trouble in Paradise” and “Design for Living.”

I was frustrated that Song did not include clearer character development for John and especially Harry. It makes some kind of sense that Lucy keeps her own cards close to the vest, since her deep knowledge of the dating pool necessitates exercising a lot of caution and because the filmmaker wants to maintain some level of “who will she choose?” tension. But there is no reason we couldn’t get a stronger sense of Harry. There is one scene of vulnerability in which the audience is allowed a glimpse of Harry’s own insecurities, and Pascal is especially great, but it is not quite enough.

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