Directed By Celine Song

Starring – Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal

The Plot – A young, ambitious New York City matchmaker (Johnson) finds herself torn between the perfect match (Pascal) and her imperfect ex (Evans).

Rated R for adult language and brief sexual material.

Materialists | Official Trailer HD | A24

POSITIVES

Song has already proven that she’s a worthwhile filmmaker, after the critically acclaim success that was last year’s “Past Lives”, but “Materialists” offers her the opportunity to construct a catfishing of the romantic comedy subgenre that completely pulls the wool over the eyes of her adoring audience, all the while deconstructing everything about the subgenre that we’ve come to expect from so many of its films feeling interchangeably stale at this point. To be fair, when the film begins, it very much looks and feels like the film that was expected from clever advertising, both with softly gentle cinematography and quirkily upbeat tones from Daniel Pemberton that feel like they were pulled from any of the movies that they cleverly spoof. But then there’s a bombshell delivered stunningly during the movie’s second half that not only changes the dynamics of everything discussed in the thought-provoking commentary of the screenplay, but also the focus and psychological impulses of Johnson’s protagonist, cementing this more as a character study in the mind of a discontent woman, as she questions whether she can have wealth and love under the same umbrella, instead of an established love triangle that is essentially the third or fourth most fascinating aspect of this subversive screenplay. The script, also from Song, isn’t afraid of getting its hands dirty, testing the waters with some uncomfortable questions and revealing psychologies about societal norms, perception versus reality, and self-satisfaction that make it one of the most interestingly unique of the cinematic calendar, with the same kind of subverted tropes from the writer/director that are so refreshing in a genre that continuously caters to conventionalism. Being that Song herself was legitimately a dating recruiter for six months, it makes her knowledge on the subject of dating feel all the more personal to Lucy’s own discoveries and observations about the career, responsibly outlining the exhilarating highs and heartbreaking lows of opening yourself up to another person, which take it down some dark and devastating corridors that I truly wasn’t expecting from a movie as light and airy as its opening act articulated, but the mature kind of evolution in tone that appraise stakes and consequences to life’s greatest feeling, a trait that so many films of the subgenre gloss over, in order to not compromise the feel-good emphasis of watching something with a built-in happy ending. In addition, like her aforementioned debut directorial effort, “Materialists” also constructs these fascinating characters that legitimately feel like living, breathing people, instead of roles that the movie requires them to play, with Johnson’s Lucy being shallow and even detestably irredeemable at times, while Pascal’s wealthy and handsome Harry is every bit the honorable suitor that makes her dilemma between men feel all the more difficult to properly assess. A lesser movie would typically have the latter do something morally corrupt or conniving to win the heart of Lucy, but Song exudes such a commanding honesty in the depths of her interactions that outline a distinct level of diverse chemistry between each of the men in Lucy’s life, making them not only effortlessly easy to articulate why she could easily fall in love with either of them, but also a bigger and deeper conveyed picture about suppressed traumas and inherited grief that makes for such a fascinating discussion about Lucy’s wants and needs that transcends itself to the audience watching from beyond, making it an opportunistic date movie for both sides of the audience demographic, for how it taps candidly and even urgently into the kind of themes and conversations that some couples might not outright admit to the other. Song’s writing and directing are so exceptional that it understandably overlooks what she can do with a lens, and while the script offers an abundance of substance to what we’re experiencing, the impeccable framing elicited from meaningfully intricate framing clues us into the kind of revealing insight about these characters that find them at their most vulnerably isolated, all with unmitigated focus on happenings in and around the backgrounds that maintain emphasis in the air of the characterization, even when they’re not part of the primary focus or its creative intentions. Because of such, this definitely feels like the kind of movie that subscribes to future watches, especially considering this first watch tried to remain faithful to what was transpiring in the script’s many talking points, and with this being another film from Song that takes place in New York, it offers her and her production ample opportunities to present the distinct differences of wealth between the two men that represent the past and present of Lucy’s dilemma, with interior decoration and even sound mixing inside of battle-tested vehicles that evoke respective feelings about the lives that come with choosing each of these men. Most importantly, however, the charming performances from this trio of decorated actors take the film to a whole other level, with each of them brandishing something integral to the unorthodox direction that Song distinguishes here. For Pascal, it’s undoubtedly the suavely charming demeanor that makes him every bit the irresistible force of nature that Lucy outlines him as, allowing him to dominate any room that he decides to grace, but never with conceitedness or even accidental immaturity that could tip the scales into villain territory, without Pascal’s meaningful grace lent to the character. Johnson’s usually tepid and distracting deliveries also surprisingly lend themselves exceptionally to the materialistic drive of the character, with stupidly shallow observations that impact all the more effectively hilarious because of her dry deliveries to the interactions, gifting Johnson a role that sweeps her off of her feet, but the kind that more than holds her own against her male oppositions. However, it’s ultimately Chris Evans that dominates the spectrum here, with the kind of legitimacy to long-winded dialogue and facial registries that convey all of the aching pain of love lost and rediscovered, with Evans continuously wearing his heart on his chest throughout internalized anguish and suppression that we feel every ounce of, thanks to the vulnerabilities that he’s unafraid to tap into with the character.

NEGATIVES

While “Materialists” is undoubtedly the measuring stick for romantic movies moving forward, this year, it isn’t without problematic hinderances, beginning with abrupt shifts in tone throughout some of the movie’s darker material, which see it feeling like a film that wants to have its cake and eat it too. As previously conveyed, the thematic shift in evolution does unearth the darker side of blind dating, but simultaneously at a cost to the abrasiveness of its tone, making this movie, at times, feel like a thriller that never fully comes to fruition. Every time it feels like something unsettling is about to blow off, the movie’s tone shapeshifts along with it, without anything justifiable in the extents of the storytelling that reflects the intention, and while it’s nice to see casual shifts to deviate against the conventionalism of the formula, the film attempts this shift two times too many, all in the means of establishing some tension and uncertainty to a movie that doesn’t really need them. In addition to this, I found the very ending of the film to run slightly long-winded and derivative within itself, especially with any of the movie’s three endings that would’ve been satisfying enough to resolve matters, instead of persisting on for a few minutes longer each time. This is especially surprising with Song, who ended “Past Lives” perfectly with the air of regret and resolution with what might’ve been from a past love coming to fruition, but here those vital moments in the closing take a bit more of the movie’s momentum during its most triumphant moments in the evolution of Lucy’s journey, and though nothing terribly traumatic to the integrity of the finished product, does remain dormant in air for a bit longer than I would’ve preferred, where the film’s runtime finally starts to feel evident in the closing moments that it stacks like dirty dishes.

OVERALL
“Materialists” is a smartly scintillating and socially deconstructive romantic comedy that intelligently and elegantly blurs the line between fantasy and reality in the irresponsible ambitions of blind dating in the 21st century. Like most eligible bachelors, the film isn’t without its flaws, mainly in the tonal whiplash that becomes a bit overpowering by its third act, however a charming trio of performances, a subversively stimulating screenplay, and an introspective direction from Song, connect with the audience on a much-deeper level than most romantic comedies, making it anything but the film you were expecting, but definitely the one you deserve

My Grade: 8.6 or B+