150 Word Review: 'The Materialists' (2025)
Turns out, you can buy love
Director Celine Strong's sophomore feature is a thoughtful, if self-serious, romantic comedy without a single joke. The main characters in The Materialists are all superficial, but who isn’t these days? Each is obsessed with money and status. Life was easier for cavemen. Shorter, too.
They're also all gorgeous human beings. Even after a grueling catering gig, Chris Evans, playing a lovable working-class hero, looks like a golden god. Dakota Johnson is well-suited to play an ice-blooded New York City matchmaker who sees her desperate and shalllow clients as data points on a spreadsheet. Marriage is a business. Unfortunately, the human heart wants more. Pedro Pascal stars as a "unicorn." Translation: rich. There's a love triangle, and multiple scenes where the meaning of love is discussed. Dating sucks. It is dehumanizing and cruel. Can’t it be a little funny? Song's sophisticated story begs for ugly beautiful losers instead of Hollywood superstars.
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I don’t normally dis on movies but this one honestly bored me. It doesn’t say anything that other films haven’t said. I should have skipped it.