Material Love

'Materialists' was not what I expected.

It's been marketed like a rom-com - but honestly? If you're heading in expecting laughs, you'll be disappointed. What you get instead is a sharp, quietly melancholic study on modern love, dating, and loneliness in the big city. It's not so much about romance as it is about emotional bankruptcy - the way ambition, money, and appearances slowly chip away at real connection.

The story follows Lucy, a matchmaker who views relationships like transactions, caught between two opposites: Harry, rich and polished, and John, her sweet but struggling ex. But the real tension isn't between them - it's in her. What does she actually want? Love, comfort, validation? Or just a life that looks good on paper?

Celine Song's style is unmistakable - lingering shots, dialogue that feels like internal monologue, and a quiet ache humming underneath it all. At times, it almost felt like watching a late-era Woody Allen film - not in tone, but in that subtle, creeping sense of urban melancholy. By the end, I didn't feel uplifted. I felt... thoughtful. A bit heavy, even.

This is a film about the emotional numbness that sneaks in when we live our lives through filters - digital and otherwise. About the loneliness hiding behind perfect apartments and curated dating profiles. And how love (or at least the idea of it) gets commodified without us even noticing.

Not a rom-com. Not really even a romance. More of a character study. A mood piece. A quiet critique. And once I let go of what I thought it was meant to be, I found I really liked it, and I hope you do too.

Let me preface by saying that my wife was a matchmaker for over 2 years in L. A. She lived the life of walking around asking people "hey are you single?" So naturally, she and I were excited to see this movie. While there were a few nods to the common (and hilariously ridiculous) issues that matchmakers deal with and some all-too-relatable moments for my wife, we were ultimately very disappointed.

1) I'll avoid spoilers, but essentially the messages sent by this movie to all the single people out there are depressing and incredibly shallow.

2) For a movie called "Materialists" that makes references to money consistently throughout, there was a shocking lack of eye candy in the film. Dinner scenes showed no food. Fancy homes were decorated by a beige monster. Not even travel porn.

3) I'm a fan of Dakota in general, but wow this is a stale performance. She's monotone and lacks any chemistry with the main characters. They interact as if she has a restraining order against them in real life but already signed up to do the movie together.

4) Everything. Is. So. Slow. The character's speak at a snail's pace. They also don't have conversations. Instead, they take turns reciting long monologues to each other. Scenes are drawn out in order to create drama and the soundtrack must just be a Pandora station called "Melodramatic Elevator Music." For a movie that centers around human connection, the main characters interacted like they were written by AI.

The marketing/pr for the film made it seem like this was going to be light, airy, and more of a rom-com. Sadly, that was not the case.

Verdict: Don't Watch.

I thought this would have been better because past lives was so good, but 2 out of 3 in the love triangle felt very hollow as characters. Dakota Johnson was also really awful which was half of the issue. I'm surprised once she got behind the camera they didn't swap her for another actor - she played her so vacuous I didn't feel any chemistry between her or any other person in the film let alone the 'love interests'. It gave her no room for growth. I didn't care who she ended up with, as the character was so shallow (and that wasn't a script issue per-say). With another actress, this might have been a 7/8. I also didn't understand the character arch for Pedro Pascal, it felt like his character had so much more potential but was reduced to something very hollow. Beautiful cinematography, but something was off with casting and the narrative.

I was disappointed in this one. It had its moments, but not enough to warrant a more than an average rating. Dakota Fanning's delivery of dialogue has always been so monotone to me however, I have to say I like this role better than some of her others. She actually seemed to care at a few moments during this movie. The exposure of horrible things that could come from using a dating service was good details. Not in a warm fuzzy kind of way, but it's an unfortunate reality. The shallowness of people when they're looking for the perfect mate was very believable. Disappointing but believable. To me the ending was very predictable.

Dakota Johnson acts as if she's reading off of a script in front of her. She has no change in tone, no depth to her voice or emotions. Even Pedro was underwhelming in this role. It felt as though Celine Song was attempting to make this film have an incredibly deep and moving message, but it didn't come across as she intended. They marketed this movie as a rom-com, disappointing me when I realized it wasn't. It could have been redeemed by a compelling story but the poor acting and awkward conveyance of a boring intended message proved the film irredeemable. Anyone other than Dakota Johnson would've worked better. Next time cast Daisy Edgar Jones.