Celine Song Adeptly Explores Love in the Time of Class Inequality In ‘Materialists’ [Review]

At first glance, Celine Song’s Materialists bears a superficial resemblance to her Oscar-nominated directorial debut, the beautiful Past Lives. That film follows Nora (Greta Lee), who left South Korea as a child and lives as an adult in New York in a relationship with her husband Arthur (John Magaro). Her life’s made more complicated when, years later, she’s visited by her Korean first love, Hae Sung (Teo Yoo). Materialists is also about a woman whose heart is torn between two potential loves, also representing past and present (though in different ways), but it’s a very different film from its exceptional predecessor. It’s an excellent contemporary comedy with an old-Hollywood feel, a breezy, quippy script, and a trio of excellent performances from Johnson, Pascal, and Evans. Despite tonal issues that muddle the overall project, it’s a breezy, brilliant, and insightful rom-com.

In Materialists, Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a professional elite matchmaker who sees romance in terms of numbers–height, weight, income, and so on. It’s hard to find satisfying love when you’re obsessed with ‘the math’ of relationship value, and Lucy the matchmaker is ironically single. At a wedding, she meets the older, wealthy, and handsome Harry (Pedro Pascal), who is instantly enamored with her. Her impoverished actor ex John (Chris Evans) is also at the wedding, working as a cater waiter. Her feelings grow for Harry, and she’s confused by the reemergence of old feelings for John, all while a real crisis at work causes Lucy to reevaluate the way she sees life and relationships.

Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, and Chris Evans Seduce and Shine in ‘Materialists’

A genre with deep Hollywood roots but a relative decline in recent decades, rom-coms have started to rise in prominence again with high-profile and wildly different entries like No Hard Feelings, Palm Springs, Emma, Always Be My Maybe, Rye Lane, or Hit Man. While the wistful Past Lives had the rom without the com, Materialists is firmly grounded in classic romantic comedy elements but with contemporary flair. As a whole, Song’s script feels refreshingly akin to classic Hollywood rom-com fare, with witty characters who articulate their feelings in memorable ways. The story also incorporates traditional rom-com themes like awkward love triangles and the intersection of class and love, but Song finds ways to make them feel fresh and modern.

Johnson is excellent as the materialistic, somewhat cynical, but evolving Lucy, landing pithy dialogue and incisive snark as well as the more earnest emotional moments. Pedro Pascal is the perfect cast for Harry: measured, confident, wealthy, and driven, but with a degree of hidden distance and insecurity. Where Harry is pure self-possession, Evans’ John is passionate, charismatic, and heart-led. Though the character’s archetypes aren’t genre-novelties, the contrasts are well used to provoke character evolution. Song’s script gives all three depth and growth behind their facades, and the trio each create nuanced characters that are just likable enough to translate audience empathy into dramatic tension.

‘Materialists’ Is A Witty Modern Rom-Com With Classic Hollywood Vibes

If Materialists has a major flaw, it revolves around a serious subplot that doesn’t work as well as intended in terms of tone and its integration within the narrative. Without spoiling the outcome, Lucy’s work as a matchmaker inadvertently creates a very serious event that reflects real dating dangers. It’s a harrowing situation treated with appropriate gravity, contributes towards Lucy’s evolution, and Johnson handles those layers well. At the same time, the seriousness of those scenes and that arc routinely contrast with the tone of the rest of the film. Lucy’s romantic concerns are surprisingly humorous at times, and we see her professional malaise with a touch of breezy irony (she loves making fun of privileged clients who ask too much), but every time the film has consistent tonal whiplash each time it pivots back to the subplot in question.

Materialists is a charmingly witty, insightful look at love in the time of modern class inequality. Johnson, Pascal, and Evans all create layered, evolving characters. Song’s script boasts engaging dialogue, a breezy pace, incisive wit, and ample insight. It’s smart to incorporate serious dating concerns that the genre has historically sanitized, but the way the scenes are balanced disrupts the film’s tone and momentum in relevant ways. This issue aside, Materialists is one of the best and smartest rom-coms we’ve had in ages, and a welcome, modernized throwback to the best aspects of the rom-coms of yore.

Materialists releases in theaters on June 13, 2025.

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