Writer-director Celine Song’s sophomore film “Materialists” doesn’t fully succeed at what it sets out to do, but it does a number of things very well along the way.
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Writer-director Celine Song’s sophomore film “Materialists” doesn’t fully succeed at what it sets out to do, but it does a number of things very well along the way.
“Materialists” is an accurate title for this tale of New Yorkers who treat romantic relationships as professional transactions, but it under-sells how humane our central characters act in conducting love as a business.
The premise of “Materialists” is perfectly suited for a far more cloying and insufferable romantic comedy.
A high-priced big-city matchmaker (Dakota Johnson) chooses between reuniting with her financially destitute aspiring-actor-turned-caterer ex-boyfriend (Chris Evans), versus taking up with the fabulously wealthy and handsome “unicorn” of a bachelor (Pedro Pascal) whom she’s trying to recruit for her services.
What little comedy lies in this supposed rom-com is confined to the hilariously desperate life of Evans’ character, who copes with slovenly roommates while acting in badly written small-stage plays.
What makes the courtship between Johnson and Pascal’s characters so compelling is also what ultimately undermines this film’s bid for romance, between our leading lady and either of her prospective partners.
While it persuasively makes the case that true love isn’t simply about matching preferences and demographic categories, “Materialists” also acknowledges that love isn’t always enough to overcome its partners’ disparate quality-of-life standards.
Johnson and Pascal don’t really have actual chemistry with each other, but that’s kind of the point, because what each of their characters values about the other is their “assets.”
Those assets extend into intangible qualities, such as one another’s wisdom and insights.
Johnson and Pascal’s characters genuinely respect, care for and are attracted to each other, but it’s not love.
Unlike our matchmaker’s more entitled clients, it doesn’t make them shallow or selfish, since they’re fully up front with each other and wish the other no harm, but nonetheless, it’s not love.
Ordinarily, I only check out romantic movies if they’re romance plus another genre, but “Materialists” barely qualifies as a romantic comedy.
It’s so focused on exploring romance exclusively that it becomes self-aware, without being ironic or meta-fictional, which is a rare and remarkable thing.
But while this quality allows the film a number of smart moments, including a surprising tone-break of a serious dramatic subplot, it also renders it slightly soulless, and robs it of the courage of its ostensible convictions in its largely resolution-free conclusion.
Like Robert Pattinson in “Twilight,” Johnson caught way too much flack for agreeing to star in “Fifty Shades of Grey,” a guaranteed star-making vehicle that wasn’t an especially good film.
As such, it gives me no joy to say she doesn’t exactly distinguish herself in “Materialists,” since her affect feels overly rehearsed and lacking in passion, even when scenes call for her studiously composed matchmaker to “break character,” so to speak.
Pascal fares slightly better, because he’s already honed the same art of acting on autopilot demonstrated by talents ranging from Tom Hanks to Anthony Hopkins.
But Song’s script leaves him too little to work with, in terms of dramatic material, with the exception of one welcome but too-late-in-the-game key revelation about his character.
I decided to see “Materialists” because of Pascal and Evans.
I admire both actors, and Evans fares best here, if only because his character’s simmering exasperation, in response to the messy hassles of his life, is extremely relatable.
It’s telling that Evans’ character is also the one who calls Johnson’s character out on all the reasons they don’t work together, while convincingly selling how much he loves her.
Perhaps Song thought that Evans’ impeccable charisma could sell the entire half-baked ending of “Materialists,” and if so, it’s hard for me to hold that against her, but that turns out to be one task too superheroic for even Captain America to achieve.
In spite of its shortcomings, I don’t regret making time for “Materialists,” but I might recommend catching it on cable, or streaming, rather than in theaters.