Dakota Johnson stars in ‘Materialists’: Celine Song’s new rom-com with Pedro Pascal and Sudbury’s Chris Evans
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
Who knew that writer-director Celine Song of the 2023 art house hit “Past Lives,” who may have been named after Jacques Rivette’s magical 1974 New Wave classic “Celine and Julie Go Boating,” was equal parts Billy Wilder and Jane Austen? In her breezy, if obviously-named, new romantic comedy “Materialists,” Song tells the tale of a modern-day New York City matchmaker, Lucy (Dakota Johnson), who specializes in finding “perfect men” for accomplished NYC women. These women pay highly for Johnson’s service and want love, of course. However, they demand that their potential husbands also be wealthy and tall. Interestingly enough, Harry (Pedro Pascal in Cary Grant mode), the new man in Lucy’s life, fits the bill. He’s tall, rich, fit, handsome, charming and mad for the matchmaker he meets at his brother’s wedding, a union which Lucy arranged. At the same time, Lucy is obviously still very attached to her ex John (a sweetly bruised Chris Evans), an aging, struggling, stage actor who moonlights as a “cater-waiter” (he runs into Lucy and Harry while serving in his waiter duds). Lucy lives in a chic apartment in a nice neighborhood. Harry inhabits a lavish $12 million spread that Lucy clocks with pure lust in her eyes. The almost 40-year-old John shares shabby group housing with several working-class types.
Speaking of “Past Lives,” Song begins her modern-day romantic fable with a flashback to prehistory, concluding with a caveman slipping a ring made from a flower onto his mate’s finger. Switch back to “today,” where Lucy contacts her client Sophie (Zoe Winters, “Succession”) to find out how her date went. We hear expressions such as “bare minimum” and “entitled,” and a lot about men’s hairlines (women’s hair in the film is notably long and flowing, including Lucy’s). Female clients want their dates to make “hundreds of thousands” (at least). This might not be Regency Period England. But it might as well be.
For Lucy, romance is “math.” But the irony is that it might be much more than that for her. A bride-to-be in the film, who is having cold feet, a rom-com staple, convinces herself (with a nudge from Lucy) to go ahead with her wedding because her betrothed makes her “sister jealous.“ Crass? Shallow? Perhaps, but honest and real, as one can tell from the ripple of laughter in the screening room.
The wedding in the film may have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. But after enough booze, these rich folk react to “Sweet Caroline” like the fans at Fenway. See Lucy hide her frustration as she interviews a handsome, 48-year-old, male client (Eddie Cahill), who will not entertain the thought of dating a woman older than 27. Lucy’s new guy, Harry, checks all the boxes.” He’s “a unicorn.” How can Lucy not be completely thrilled that he wants to take her to Iceland?
Shot, like Billy Wilder’s Academy Award-winning “The Apartment” (1960), in New York City, “Materialists” also conjures up visions of the only slightly less aged “Sex and the City” (1998). Like author Candace Bushnell, Song sets her romantic adventure against a backdrop of young(ish) people working and loving in this fast-paced, modern-day metropolis with strict social rules and hierarchies. Of course, the same is true of “The Apartment,” which was way ahead of its time. Yes, that is a cover of Harry Nilsson’s “I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City” on the film’s soundtrack.
Song, who lives in New York City with her screenwriter-husband, Justin Kuritzkes (“Challengers”), has made a much more commercial, all-English-language entry this time out, featuring the lead actor from the “50 Shades of Grey” films. Will Captain America (Evans) prevail over Joel from “The End of Us” (Pascal)? As the tall, lean matchmaker-beauty in this combination comedy/zinging, if also middling satire, Johnson has a tough job. Does Lucy believe anything she tells her clients? Is she a complete fraud or only a partial fraud (like the rest of us)? People forget how funny, subversive and psychologically astute Austen is. She also has a sentimental streak. Song does, too.
‘The Materialists’
Rating: R for language and brief sexual material.
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, Chris Evans
Writer-Director: Celine Song
Running time: 116 minutes
Where to watch: In theaters June 13
Grade: B+
Boston Movie News 