‘Materialists’ review: Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans form Celine Song’s love triangle

Dir/scr: Celine Tune. US. 2025. 116mins

For the follow-up to her Oscar-nominated debut Previous Lives, writer-director Celine Tune once more makes use of a romantic triangle to discover the mysteries of attraction — and the everlasting battle between the pinnacle and the guts. Materialists stars Dakota Johnson as an expert matchmaker who pairs up potential mates primarily based on standards similar to top, age and, most necessary of all, funds. However her philosophy is challenged by a rich stranger (Pedro Pascal) and the return of her ex-boyfriend (Chris Evans), a broke however adoring actor. Though not with out its narrative stumbles, this can be a sharp have a look at fashionable love, which is commonly as a lot concerning the want for fiscal safety as it’s the pursuit of a legendary soulmate.

A pointy have a look at fashionable love

A24 reunites with Tune to launch Materialists within the US on June 13. (Sony can be dealing with different territories together with the UK, the place the movie opens on August 15.) Previous Lives grossed $43 million worldwide with out main stars, and the truth that this new movie boasts three of them ought to make this a fetching date-night choice.

Materialists is ready in New York, an obscenely costly metropolis the place cash dominates practically each side of life. On this world, Lucy (Johnson) works for a matchmaking firm whose rich, choosy shoppers count on to be arrange with their excellent associate. She is great at her job — 9 of her shoppers have gone on to get married — and he or she believes in love, though she is exceedingly sensible concerning the elements that affect compatibility, similar to how a lot cash potential dates earn.

At a marriage for one consumer, she meets Harry (Pascal), who she judges to be a ‘unicorn’: matchmaker terminology meaning he’s the perfect bundle for any lady. However Harry doesn’t wish to rent Lucy — he needs up to now her. Simply then, Lucy additionally runs into John (Evans), a former boyfriend who’s a part of the marriage’s catering workforce, a dead-end job he must assist himself whereas attempting to maintain his floundering appearing profession afloat.

Tune continues to reveal a knack for nuanced characters and naturalistic, considerate dialogue. Teaming up together with her Previous Lives cinematographer Shabier Kirchner, she captures a lavish upper-crust New York, in addition to the much less well-heeled neighbourhoods inhabited by struggling artists similar to John. On its floor, Materialists tackles acquainted romantic-comedy debates — contentment versus ardour, cash versus happiness — however Tune approaches these themes with a frankness that makes them really feel recent. Lucy could seem shallow — early on, she informs Harry that whoever she marries must be rich — however she’s a wise, delicate one that is practical concerning the points that drive a wedge between {couples}, and Materialists is non-judgemental about her perception system.

All three leads pop, though Johnson has essentially the most difficult position. It might be simple to show Lucy into an icy, materialistic social climber, however the movie has immense sympathy for the character, rendering her as somebody who needs the perfect for her shoppers however stays guarded in relation to her personal romantic prospects. Johnson conveys each Lucy’s skilled sheen — an aloofness that carries over into her burgeoning relationship with Harry — and a gradual cracking of that steely exterior as soon as she will get an sudden style of the draw back of matchmaking.

Pascal brings further dimensions to his so-called unicorn character, who slowly chips away at Lucy’s resistance to his charms. (For her, the maths don’t add up: in a single pivotal scene, she explains why it’s not logical for him up to now her when he might be seeing somebody youthful with a much bigger checking account.) And Evans delivers one among his loveliest performances as John, a late-30s actor who needs Lucy again however is aware of he has nothing of fiscal worth to supply her.

Romantic triangles can collapse if all three legs aren’t correctly supported, and the movie’s second half wobbles as a result of some strained plot twists and the script’s susceptibility to pat resolutions. Previous Lives’ love story grappled with the character of destiny and future, and it’s hanging to see Tune’s new movie put apart these cosmic considerations for the crushing practicality of cash and comfort. Her conclusions are a bit predictable, and generally a bit of pressured, however she stays entranced by the priceless intricacies of the human coronary heart.