'Materialists' is Indeed Skin Deep title_ext

In Materialists, Oscar nominee Celine Song follows up her critically acclaimed drama Past Lives with a project that suggests she blew all of her talent on the last one. While moderately entertaining at times, Materialists suffers from flat acting, awkward dialogue, and a tedious third act that fails in all the ways Past Lives thrived.

Dakota Johnson plays a good-looking New York City matchmaker who starts dating an uber-rich Pedro Pascale, despite still feeling a connection to her ex-boyfriend, an uber-poor Chirs Evans. The plot largely revolves around her learning that loving relationships aren’t built on calculated “check the boxes” connections but something deeper, though it would be hard to imagine too many people falling in love with her given her incredibly cynical perspective on people and herself in particular.

She’s hot, though, so that counts for something.

Materialists works best as a comedy, though it’s not your standard cheesy romcom. You can tell Song thought she was making something deeper and more meaningful–Materialists feels a little more grounded, at least at first–but the most amusing stretches are the stereotypical montages of daters explaining their ideal matches (the Republican lesbian line made me laugh out loud).

Where Materialists struggles is when it attempts to dig beneath the surface. Johnson is an okay protagonist but doesn’t quite have the chops to overcome the stilted, weird dialogue she is forced to say. Her chemistry with both Pascale and Evans is just good enough to appease those who are just excited to see Pascale and Evans on screen, but to say sparks fly would be as far from the truth as possible. Neither Evans nor Pascale are particularly convincing.

What’s frustrating is that for a little while, I was into Materialists. The first act is relatively strong, setting up a compelling romcom-drama scenario and introducing some amusing matchmaking moments. But as it progresses, the movie becomes more and more vapid, and by the time the third act clunks around, it’s downright tedious. At one point I thought the movie was about to end and then Song extended it for another 20 to 30 minutes, at which point I simply didn’t care.

While her subplot isn’t perfectly handled, one standout is Zoe Winters, who delivers a properly emotional performance as a matchmaking client who encounters a surprise rough patch.

Materialists isn’t without its positives, but it’s a massive step down for Celine Song. Past Lives was so exquisitely acted and written, it’s pretty jarring to see Johnson, Evans, and Pascale flail on screen with a script that isn’t nearly as clever, dramatic, or funny as it so desperately wanted to be.

Review by Erik Samdahl.

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