Celine Song burst onto the scene with her beautiful, poignant love story, Past Lives, in 2023. Anticipation for her follow-up was high. Materialists is a different love story focusing on another triangle like her previous film, but this time in a very different world and with a different attitude. However, what sounds like a good idea on paper fails to ignite on the screen, and a secondary story about matchmaking proves to be a far more interesting aspect than the main tale.

Lucy is a matchmaker whose job is to find successful, wealthy men and women their ideal partner, even if some of their ideas are way beyond their reach. Being single herself, she follows specific rules which are soon thrown out the window when she meets Harry, a wealthy stockbroker who lives in a $12 million apartment. Complications arise for Lucy when her ex, John, reappears on the scene and is the complete opposite of Harry: a struggling actor who finds money as a waiter for a catering company. When an issue arises with her job, Lucy must reevaluate her situation.

Song is an excellent director and manages to use the camera in interesting ways. She is also a perfect writer, and the dialogue is strong. However, the tone of this film is inconsistent. Starting with a scene about how cavemen fall in love seems a bit odd, and then it jumps to modern-day New York, complete with all the trappings of a romantic comedy. If this was the path that Song was heading down, it failed, as this is far too serious and doesn’t have any genuine laughs.

Firstly, the world in which Lucy lives is horrendous. Full of people with more money than sense who dream of finding the ideal partner with specifics that seem impossible to reach, even down to longing for men of particular heights. This isn’t about finding love; it’s about a commodity. Having said that, this side of the film is far more interesting, especially when one of her clients is on the end of a date that ends in danger, causing Lucy to reevaluate her choices. This is the film that Song should have concentrated on.

Instead, she focuses on a love triangle between the rich and poor, and makes Lucy stuck in the middle of the world she has almost created herself. Does she go for the rich Harry, who takes her to expensive restaurants, buys her two dozen roses and lives in a mansion more than a penthouse (a scene where Lucy sees the place for the first time is a high point of the film). Or does she choose the ex who struggles to make ends meet, lives with two other men, and drives a clapped-out car, refusing to pay for parking?

It all plays out like a cheap romantic drama you’d expect to find on an afternoon on a minor TV channel. There is no real suspense as to which way she will go. Song, as good a writer as she is, doesn’t know when to stop, and some of the scenes outstay their welcome and become a little too stagey, as the camera lingers far too long on one position. I often complain about quick-firing editing, but this does go to the extreme with its static camerawork.

The cast is decent, with Dakota Johnson, who looks like she is reliving her Fifty Shades of Grey days, as Lucy, although this is probably her best performance. Chris Evans is fine as actor John, and man of the moment Pedro Pascal (who seems to be in everything at the moment) has enough screen charisma to carry the part of Harry without making him sleazy or hateful.

Materialists is proof of the difficult second album. A film that, if it had focused just on the world of dating and the dangers it brings, could have been a far better movie. By shifting the story to another love story, it just becomes uninteresting. A disappointment.

2 out of 5

Director: Celine Song

Starring: Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal, Zoe Winters, Marin Ireland, Dasha Nekrasova, Emmy Wheeler, Louisa Jacobson

Written by: Celine Song

Running Time: 116 mins

Cert: 15

Release date: 15th August 2025