In one sentence: Materialists follows Lucy, a Manhattan matchmaker whose approach to dating is disrupted when she becomes involved with two very different men, one wealthy and one struggling.

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Celine Song made waves with her gentle, poignant feature film debut Past Lives, which earned her Academy Award recognition. Naturally, all eyes were on her follow-up, Materialists. Starring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal, this film is a surprising exploration of modern relationships that tackles the complex dating challenges facing millennials and beyond.

My social media feeds were flooded with adverts for Materialists, promising a glossy love-triangle romcom so I was taken aback when I discovered that this film is something far more layered. While it does centre on a romantic triangle, it is much less a conventional comedy and more an examination of contemporary dating. Song draws partly from her own experience, having worked as a professional matchmaker for six months.

In hindsight, I should have known an A24 film would be more than a straightforward romcom, but I was happily hoodwinked. My one critique of Past Lives was its slow pace and I felt similarly here. Though I enjoy a measured, character-driven film, Materialists takes its time to find momentum. Once it does, it touches on strikingly relevant issues; how women are viewed in the dating world after thirty, society’s fixation on men’s height (the 6ft rule) and the uncomfortable truth that older men still tend to prefer younger women.

The film follows Lucy (Dakota Johnson), a successful matchmaker celebrating the ninth marriage born from her work. However, the opening sequence feels almost disorienting and I briefly wondered if I was watching the right film, but its meaning becomes clear later. Early scenes show Lucy speaking with clients, reducing potential partners to data points such as height, income, education, attractiveness. It feels clinical, yet the film cleverly mirrors this with how dating apps operate; reducing people to profiles with criteria to be filtered out. Song asks us to question whether we are any different from Lucy in how we approach love.

Lucy’s beliefs are tested when she becomes involved with two very different men. Harry (Pedro Pascal) is, as she says, a “unicorn”. He is tall, wealthy, well-educated, seemingly perfect. John (Chris Evans) is the opposite. He is a struggling actor and part-time waiter living in a shabby apartment with roommates. As Lucy’s relationships with them develop, her own biases begin to surface, particularly around money and status. The title Materialists takes on layered meaning as Lucy confronts the role that financial security and social standing play in love.

The film also delves into the darker aspects of modern dating; the pressures of beauty standards, the rise of cosmetic enhancements, the impact of a person’s upbringing the risks of sexual assault. These additions ground the film in realism, separating it from the glossy escapism typical of romantic comedies. It is this refusal to stay within genre boundaries that makes Materialists both challenging and rewarding.

Once the film finds its rhythm, it becomes an engaging and thought-provoking watch. The standout moments are Lucy’s candid conversations with her clients about their expectations and non-negotiables in a partner, scenes that feel painfully familiar in the modern dating world. Materialists is deeper and more reflective than a standard romantic comedy, but I wonder if that may disappoint viewers expecting something lighter. For those willing to meet it on its own terms, however, it is an honest, relevant and quietly compelling exploration of love in the age of algorithms.

★★★★ (4/5)