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It would be unfair and disingenuous to assume Celine Song's follow-up to Past Lives — a modern masterpiece — would top it, and to that end, her new movie Materialists was DOA. Song enlists the help of a star-studded trio, Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal, to tell the slice-of-life story of Materialists.
On paper, this should have been a home run. Sometimes, reality can be something you don't expect, as anyone who has been on a dating app can attest to.
Materialists dwells on the ugly parts of dating. On one hand, it's admirable of Song to tackle such subject matter. On the other, it makes for a pity party that is not fun to watch.
In other actors' hands, Materialists may work better. I think Johnson, Pascal, and even Evans, who finally acts for the first time since Avengers: Endgame, were out of their element.
It's not all on the star-studded trio. Song has a lot of ideas and themes to hit, but Materialists feels overstuffed and unfocused. There is also a subplot that I'm still processing — it felt shoehorned in order to make the audience feel something emotional.
What is Materialists trying to say? Anyone who has ever been on dating apps or a blind date knows people can be shallow with their expectations.
Song appears to have something deeper to say about self-worth that gets caught up in the matchmaking plot. Perhaps that wasn’t the best vehicle for that theme.
So, Materialists is an unfortunate miss for Song, who still flashes her potential. There is a familiar intimacy to this slice-of-life story; these just aren't the actors to tell it with.
What is Materialists about?
Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a matchmaker and has been for a little while when Materialists begins, having set up her ninth married couple.
The job sounds easy, but it gets reduced to becoming an unlicensed therapist. Everyone wants a man over 6′ tall with a salary of mid-six figures or a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue model, and it's Lucy's job to find them.
It's hard to imagine doing that kind of work, and yet, to her own admission, it's the first job Lucy was good at. She meets Harry Castillo (Pedro Pascal), an affluent man, at the wedding of the ninth married couple she set up. Moreover, he is the brother of the groom, and he is gung-ho on getting together with Lucy.
Their first encounter becomes awkward when Lucy's ex-boyfriend, John (Chris Evans), a struggling theater actor by day and catering server by night, runs into her at the wedding.
So, the “eternal bachelorette” is stuck between the rich Harry, who checks all of her surface-level boxes, and her old flame, who still knows her better than anyone else.
A complicated love triangle
Those going into Materialists expecting “Challengers for adults” will be sorely disappointed. If anything, it's “Challengers for grad students.”
Part of the reason any comparison to Challengers is a moot point — aside from the obvious love triangle — is Song is trying to tell a different story.
Lucy spends most of Materialists lamenting how she is incapable of finding love. This kind of pity party is thrown for all three of the main characters, who all find different ways of masking insecurities.
Harry can give Lucy the globe-trotting adventures she only ever dreamed of. His $12 million Tribeca penthouse provides the stability her 500-square-foot midtown apartment could never.
Pascal plays the rich man dry. His puppy dog eyes can only get him so far, and his scenes with Johnson rarely heat up, let alone show sparks.
I've never thought Pascal has the chops to do this level of dramatic acting. His most notable recent performance was in Freaky Tales, which was as authentic as Evans' performance in Materialists.
Other than that, he mostly over-relies on the somber facial expressions and his swagger. That only gets you so far, as Materialists proves, especially when you have to act opposite Johnson.
Johnson will occasionally surprise you with roles in The Peanut Butter Falcon. But for every Peanut Butter Falcon, she has a Madame Web.
While not completely unbearable like her Marvel role, Johnson feels out of place as Lucy. Her best scenes come opposite Zoë Winters, who plays one of her clients. Otherwise, she mostly gives the same monotone performance you've seen before.
That lack of chemistry works to show some parts of their relationship. It's obvious that Lucy and Harry's relationship fails to go beyond the surface because Materialists never shows them talk about anything of note.
Chris Evans actually gives a solid performance
When crap hits the fan, Lucy is always looking for John. Song opts to show flashbacks of Lucy and John's last fight, which helps fill in some of the blanks. However, their chemistry also isn't anything to write home about.
John, a man who is still as broke in the present day as he was when he broke up with Lucy, is played by Evans, who has rarely played the everyman since taking on his Marvel role.
Can I buy Evans as someone who gets chicken over rice from Halal carts (me too, man) and has several roommates in his late 30s? Shocking, yes. Leave it to Song to get the first great performance out of Evans since Knives Out.
He doesn't have to try to be charming as Pascal does. Whether it be makeup or his performance, Evans does have some level of authenticity in a movie full of phony performances.
Celine Song shows flashes
I don't want one bad review to seem like I'm writing off Song, who I still admire for her directorial debut. Even Wes Anderson, who has had several misses in a row, still gets an open mind when I see his latest movie.
Song still gives Materialists a level of authenticity she showed in Past Lives. Shabier Kirchner once again returns as her DP, and there are some stellar shots in the movie — none better than the blocking and lighting of the first time Lucy sees Harry's penthouse.
However, her script isn't as tight this time around. I feel the complexities of Lucy's emotions mean something to Song, but there may have been too many ideas for one 117-minute movie.
Again, the subplot involving one of Lucy's clients feels out of place. It adds tension to any scenes with Johnson and another character going forward that feels out of a different movie.
At the same time, I liked the subtlety of how Song depicts Lucy's relationships with Harry and John. One is all glitz and glamour, while the other is a relationship that still means a lot to both parties.
Even the ending of Materialists feels out of character. There is a bold decisiveness to the ending of Past Lives that is missing in Materialists. It feels too Hollywood for something Song wrote, and that works against everything she built for the prior 110 minutes.
Should you watch Materialists?
There are several disappointed customers of Lucy in Materialists. The client's wishes are never fully satisfied, as they feel betrayed when someone isn't quite 5′ 11″ or isn't Hollywood-level attractive.
The same can be said of watching Materialists as a fan of Celine Song's last film. Her directorial debut was one of the few masterpieces to come out over the last couple of years.
Maybe expectations should have been tempered, but Materialists is what we would call a sophomore slump in sports. Perhaps the third time's the charm.
Grade: C
Materialists is in theaters.
