I’m a sucker for a good romantic comedy, but given that Materialists, which hits the 2025 movie calendar on June 13, is coming from director Celine Song (Past Lives) and is one of A24’s upcoming movies, I think it’s a pretty safe bet this won’t be just any old genre standard. In fact, early reactions calling it “more than a rom-com” indicate as much, and now critics are here to share their expanded opinions.
Dakota Johnson stars in Celine Song’s Materialists as a professional matchmaker who finds herself torn between a new beau (Pedro Pascal) and a struggling actor from her past (Chris Evans). Siddhant Adlakha of IGN says below the surface of this love-triangle romance is a meaningful, introspective drama about self-worth. The critic gives it an “Amazing” 9 out of 10, writing:
Celine Song’s sophomore drama Materialists uses the screen presences of lovelorn leads Dakota Johsnon, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal to play with rom-com expectations. The result is an unexpected love triangle of cynics, both rich and poor alike, caught in a world where dating can be a game of numbers, forcing them to harden themselves towards romance. But as the possibility of the real thing rears its head, Song presents it in deeply alluring hues without ever shying away from the realistic allure of even the most bitter alternatives.
Pete Hammond of Deadline calls the movie “sublime” and thinks it could serve as an alternative to some of the summer’s most highly-anticipated blockbusters. Materialists confirms Celine Song as one of the most exciting new filmmaking voices, the critic says, as she provides a film that can be appreciated by both romantic purists and cynics. Hammond continues:
Song has cast her three leads to perfection. Johnson nails all the insecurity beneath the surface of this seemingly assured businesswoman and is superb in what might be her best screen outing yet. Evans, always a better actor than he is given credit for, doesn’t miss a beat as a guy still struggling as an actor and as a man trying to find his true love, and knowing he probably already did – the one that got away. Pascal, in a role that could have been one-dimensional, gives Harry genuine humanity and likability. This is someone we also can root for.
Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair says the movie explores the push and pull between passion and practicality. It begins to ask difficult questions about the darker side of modern dating and the matchmaking business but unfortunately pulls back before getting too deep. There’s still much to savor about Materialists, Lawson says, writing:
Materialists is successfully seductive, eventually revealing a few potential deal-breakers but otherwise proving an engaging date. I wanted to fall in love, as I had with Past Lives. But a diverting, heady fling will do too.
Kate Erbland of IndieWire grades the movie a B and says don’t be fooled by the marketing — Materialists is a more of a cynical takedown of the rom-com than a romantic comedy itself. In Erbland’s words:
Materialists is not a romantic comedy. It’s not even a comedy, and your read on how romantic it is will be entirely fueled by how willing you are to grapple with a subject that rom-coms seldom broach: the limits of what love can do for someone. Cynical, sad, increasingly fucked up, and often gloriously mean, Song has turned the genre inside out to show us how shallow these stories can be.
Not all critics were as taken with the movie, though. Natalia Keogan of AV Club gives it a B-, writing that Materialists lacks the fleshed-out characters and “triangulated tension” that made Past Lives successful. The filmmaker’s insistence that relationships are largely transactional is void of any meaningful insight, the critic says, resulting in a story that doesn’t pay off. Keogan continues:
While buzz for Song’s sophomore feature has been positioning it as a much-needed comeback for the rom-com genre, the film lacks the finesse for character and chemistry that the filmmaker showcased in her inaugural effort. Drifting away from Song’s personal life may have proved somewhat less inspiring for her as a writer, but even less convincing here are central performances from Dakoka Johnson and Pedro Pascal, whose lack of mutual magnetism slacken the tension inherent to a convincing love triangle.
While the film may not be everybody’s cup of tea, overall critical response so far has been positive, with Celine Song’s sophomore effort drawing 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. It will be interesting to see how audiences react to Materialists, especially if they go in expecting a “silly” rom-com. Catch it in theaters starting Friday, June 13.
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