Please note this review contains spoilers.
Celine Song’s sophomore independent film, Materialists, was released on June 13, 2025. The highly anticipated indie film starring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal had an opportunity to be different, but its overall message is misplaced.
Where Materialists fails with writing and sending the wrong message on dating, it makes up for it with its dreamy b-roll of Manhattan paired with an equally charming soundtrack. Unfortunately, visuals and aesthetics aren’t enough to save this film, with its bizarre subplots and the use of sexual assault as a plot device to further Lucy’s (Dakota Johnson) journey back to love.
The movie was supposed to be this era’s answer to commentaries on dating, but unfortunately, it misses the point.
Lucy, a matchmaker in Manhattan with a salary of $80k before taxes, is jaded by love and dating. Her job centers on “checking off boxes” for other people seeking a partner. Some boxes, for example, include a high salary, a “fit body,” and, for men, to be at least 5’10.”
Even with all of these qualities that some potential suitors have, many of her clients aren’t happy. They’re too picky, too judgmental, or too materialistic.
It’s a clever idea for a romantic comedy with a love triangle, but it’s poorly executed. Lucy doesn’t have to choose between Prince Charming and the town Jester. She instead finds herself caught between a man named Harry (Pedro Pascal), who works in private equity, and her struggling actor ex-boyfriend named John (Chris Evans).
Had the other option been a new person in Lucy’s life, maybe the movie wouldn’t have fallen so flat. The only aspect of Lucy and John’s past relationship that the audience learns is that he’s broke, can’t hold a job, and yells at Lucy in times of frustration.
There’s no real substance to their relationship that convinces audiences that John has changed at all when she meets him again; it’s confirmed later in the movie when John asks Lucy if he’s different, and she says no.
Her relationship with Harry falls through the cracks, too. It’s not that he paid $12 million for his Manhattan apartment or that he works in private equity that makes Lucy realize she never loved him. It’s the reveal of his leg-lengthening surgery scars.
He checks off all the boxes she has, and she even refers to him as a “unicorn.” Still, his qualifications didn’t make her fall in love with him, and the reveal of his cosmetic surgery is what truly makes her realize she has no feelings for him.
It’s a bizarre plot to include that feels misplaced. Is it truly his qualifications and past cosmetic surgery that make her realize she doesn’t love him, or is it that they’re just not compatible?
Another hint that the audience is thrown that Lucy doesn’t love Harry is when Lucy decides to call her ex, John, when something traumatic happens to one of her clients.
Sophie is a client of Lucy’s who has been struggling with dating for a long time. Lucy finally sets Sophie up with a guy who “checks all her boxes.” Even though Mark is only 5’9”, he is a doctor. After their date, it’s revealed that Mark assaulted Sophie.
What could have been a good opportunity to send a helpful message about safety and precautions when meeting a stranger for a date is instead used as a plot device for Lucy to realize there’s more to people than just their credentials.
It’s also used to further the plot between Lucy and John. When she’s upset, she doesn’t call Harry to tell him — she calls John, her ex-boyfriend.
Unlike how Harry checks off her boxes, John checks off none of them — not that it makes it any better that Lucy decides to go back to him. The movie later reveals that Lucy and John were together for five years before she broke up with him because he didn’t have a lot of money.
On the surface, money seems like the guiding factor in her choice, but watching it closely, it’s more than that. It’s his lack of a career, lack of financial security, and most of all, his lack of keeping his promises to Lucy.
Instead of remembering what ended them in the first place, Lucy gives in and goes back to him, all because he loves her. The message Materialists sends is misplaced because of Lucy going back to her ex, who still feeds her empty promises but justifies it with love.
People are more than their assets and credentials — there is no doubt that this is a universally known thing. Where Materialists fails in separating a person from their money is that the film encourages people to make excuses for someone who may not be doing the work to improve themselves for a relationship.
It’s okay that John doesn’t work in private equity or lives in a $12 million apartment, because there’s more to him than that. Just because he doesn’t have these materialistic things, however, also doesn’t make him a suitable partner. The audience sees that when he admits to Lucy that he’s still broke and doesn’t have a steady job.
On the other hand, just because Harry does work in private equity and lives in a $12 million apartment doesn’t make him a suitable partner for Lucy either. The insecurities he has regarding his cosmetic surgery still live inside him.
Lucy going back to John, despite his setbacks and the fact that they were in a fully committed relationship before, does a disservice to the message of settling for what someone deserves versus settling for comfort.
Materialists had the chance to be an interesting commentary on dating — the woes and cautions of it all. Instead, though, it encourages people to reward bad behavior, all in the name of love.
Love is not enough to save a relationship, and there is nothing materialistic about someone having a set of standards when dating potential suitors. The message Materialists wants audiences to walk away with is not about seeing a person for more than what they have, it’s: go back to your ex — he hasn’t changed at all.
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Materialists is currently in theaters.
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Samantha Barker
Samantha is a writer and fangirl of all things pop culture, from The Beatles to Daredevil. When she's not writing reviews or musings, she's writing poetry in her notes app.
