A24's Materialists

A24’S MATERIALISTS 🌹 

From broke boys and short kings to love triangles and playing Cupid, Academy Award-nominated director Celine Song covers a wide gamut of romance, or lack thereof, in the modern age.

A24’s MATERIALISTS follows a New York City matchmaker (Dakota Johnson) who now finds herself in a relationship with one of the city’s wealthiest bachelors (Pedro Pascal) as her lingering, well-meaning, but severely broke ex-boyfriend (Chris Evans) admits to still having feelings for her. Dakota Johnson’s character is a sort of fill-in for the world of dating apps as she filters through single men and women in the city and pairs them up based on their personal preferences for a life partner. She has a cynical view of dating in her own life while she instills hope in her clients for the chance they may find the love she no longer actively seeks.

The trailer for this movie gives off a classic romantic comedy vibe circa 2000-and-something, but that’s a complete misdirection because Celine Song has so much more to say about the state of relationships, the human need for connection, and how love has evolved into something unrecognizable from what we’ve seen on film before.

First off, if you’re in the early stages of seeing someone, this may not be the best date movie.

I was expecting MATERIALISTS to be a little bit more hopeful, playful, and sexy, but instead we get the ugly parts of dating magnified in a way that removes romance for the sake of forecasting a successful relationship before it’s even started.

Celine Song clearly has opinions on what relationships have become, and her perspective on dating culture is presented in a way that may not be as fun as I hoped, yet is still an incredibly insightful examination of the range of issues plaguing modern society.

A lot of people have romanticized their ideal partner to the point they approach dates like interviews and quantify attributes as if living a life with someone solely based on net worth, looks, and/or social status will be enough to satisfy their every need. Then there are those who are settling or decreasing their own value in the hopes it will lure in a potential life partner, which is demonstrated through an aggressive pivot in the story.

As a 6’3 guy with friends on the shorter side, I’ve seen the cruel way men have to deal with height discrimination, but I was a little confused by the choice to use height surgery to show that insecurity. Is it a regular enough occurrence for it to be a focal point of a story like this? I also felt a little blindsided by the plot twist near the middle of the movie, which felt so aggressive in comparison to the rest of the movie, yet I still understand the need for it to exist.

Girls will endure some crazy stuff when it comes to dating apps, and the risk they take meeting someone they never met compared to guys is something most dudes won’t ever understand unless they have girlfriends or sisters.

MATERIALISTS works because of its thorough, multi-dimensional dissection of dating culture and in spite of its flawed story that at times tries to be too many things at once.

In the third act you can feel this movie reaching for that iconic moment you’d get from your traditional love story, but by that point it feels forced and opposed to the characters evolving motivation. Overall, I’m pretty mixed on the movie as a whole. The parts I liked I loved, and the parts I wasn’t as into still carried a distinct direction that provoked thought and intrigue, maybe too much for its own good.

MATERIALISTS is not on the same level as Past Lives for me, but it should be applauded for the way it presents dating in the world of swipes and the superficial nature of prospecting matches. 

Enjoy!

7.4/10 🍿 🎥

Runtime: 1hr49mins

Where: NowPlaying In Theatres

A24's Materialists Review (2025) The Richmond Reviewer - July 6th, 2025.

#A24 #Materialists #DakotaJohnson  #PedroPascal #ChrisEvans #MovieReview #Movie