A Saving Grace for a Suffering Genre
A review of Materialists and its attempt to reshape the romance genre
The romance genre is one that is ever-changing to fit the time in which it’s released. From Gone with the Wind to 10 Things I Hate About You, the genre encompasses shifts in culture and in people themselves. Because of this, I have recently noticed a severe lack in the romance genre in accurately describing how life from 2020-2025 has shifted without the films coming across as shallow or even at some points cringey. There are certain hits within the genre from these years of course, Anyone but You and No Hard Feelings gaining relatively positive acclaim in theaters recently, as well as even Challengers and Anora if you think of them that way. However, even within the last two films listed above, audiences can see that there is a current shift in the romance genre into something less “rom-com” and more “rom-dram” in mainstream or widespread releases.
There is a new incorporation of the seriousness that comes along with relationships and the complexities that are experienced within them, rather than just focusing on the formation of the relationships themselves. The characters in these films feel like they have backstories and baggage coming along with them into the relationships. They have necessary turmoil about things that they want within the relationships. Their interactions are a reflection of how society currently acts towards each other and dating, as the digital age has done nothing but encourage people to shrink themselves down to numbers on a profile, rather than people with personalities. Showcasing this, along with awe-worthy cinematography and writing techniques, is where Celine Song’s new release Materialists really shines above the rest.
Materialists centers around Lucy (Dakota Johnson), a successful matchmaker in New York City known for helping determined and difficult clients find their perfect partners, using a formula she has created about which relationships will work or fail. As Lucy attempts to find love for others, she has to reexamine her own romantic standards as she encounters Harry (Pedro Pascal), a charming and wealthy possible client who checks every box on her list. However, as her imperfect ex John (Chris Evans) reappears in her life, things become complicated. This film explores what we as a society crave in relationships and whether or not these things are actually going to give us what we want in the end.
If you are going into this film wanting a 2000’s era romantic comedy you will be disappointed. I think there is something to be said about the way that this film has been advertised that might lead audiences to think this is the case, so clarifying that will give an entirely different look at the film going in. While there is love for this genre sprinkled throughout the work, and while the concept itself could have been turned into that type of film, it instead became commentary on modern relationships and the harm in looking at them in the wrong light. However, satire is still present within this film, which could be missed if you are going in with the wrong perceptions. Celine Song uses her own experience as a former matchmaker to share dry humor and over-the-top examples of modern dating requirements in order to showcase how ridiculous all of it would look if we weren’t already accustomed to such insanities.
Although the majority of the film focuses on the love triangle between the main three characters, you never really get tired of hearing what they have to say. Celine does an amazing job at writing the dialogue in a way that moves the story along at a realistic pace. The film never really hits a low point, other than a quite dark b-plot based around the experience of one of Lucy’s clients, and doesn’t seem to be using its time to declare the death of love, but instead the decline in how to experience it.
Each of the castings in this film I think really work for what they are. In the times that Johnson needs to be short and dry witted she is, but she also succeeds in her very emotional scenes as well. I also noticed within the film the difference in her acting when she was with each individual person, as well as when the backdrop and setting around her changed. Evans did a very decent job delivering dialogue and carrying himself within his character. He has two of the longest dialogue sections and I think he performed them quite well, even though there was a bit of an unconvincing sadness to some of them. Pascal uses the time he has on screen in an interesting way and does something that I have never seen from him, as he is usually not cast in roles like this. I didn’t adore some of his line delivery, but I also think some of his delivery was embedded in how the character would be saying it, as the character is a bit closed off, rather than how it would appear naturally in a conversation.
This film uses its characters to comment on standards in relationships, and although it does give a conclusion to the characters and their story, it doesn’t downright say that the hold-ups in the relationship are unimportant or need to be pushed aside. Each character within this is flawed in some way, even Pascal’s character who is meant to be the “perfect match”. The obvious use of the love triangle trope is to give the audience someone to root for, to pick between. Within this film, however, there really is no right or wrong option. Celine leaves the decision up to the audience to both question the characters’ actions, as well as look inward to their own.
Materialists accomplishes exactly what it set out to do: provide an entertaining commentary on modern dating, and a complex look at the internal issues that prevent us from connecting completely in this dating market. Within its runtime of a little less than two hours, it examines themes of security, scrutiny, and self-worth within relationships and how they can be thrown off in the blink of an eye. This film encourages its audience to look deeper at the things they truly want within relationships, and provides them an outcome that, although expected, still leaves them with elements of mystery. Wrapped up in beautiful direction, cinematography, and storytelling, Materialists, in my opinion, is one of this year’s first must-see movies.