While I’m almost never the intended audience for such things, I do love a rom-com. Comedy and romance just go together, largely because neither is a subjective thing. Everyone’s image of each is unique to them, but since neither romance nor comedy can really exist with just one person involved, it leads to infinite permutations of clashing tastes. It’s why the same joke can make one person howl and another person call HR. It’s why two people can fall madly in love with one another and then shift into a state of mutual animosity in almost no time at all. Yet despite the many different potential flavors of rom-com, it seems all are pointed at folks, typically women, who are considerably younger than me. Enter Materialists, a romantic comedy made for adults, and which isn’t pointed at any one gender. It’s also just a downright well made movie. It’s an art film dressed up as The Notebook.
(I genuinely enjoy The Notebook, so don’t come at me. You know what I mean, don’t act like you don’t).
Dakota Johnson plays Lucy, a New York City matchmaker who is very good at her job. She arranges dates between clients who pay top dollar to find someone who fits their often comically specific list of romantic requirements. The men all want much younger women with impossibly perfect bodyies while the women all want men who are at least six feet tall and who have more money than any one person could spend on a lifetime. Yet despite these inherent incompatibilities, Lucy has a way of making it work. Not only is she good at finding matches, she’s great helping lovers in doubt reaffirm their affections. She’s become somewhat of a therapist for many of her clients, and somewhat of a friend as well. In fact, she’s just been invited to attend the wedding of two of them … and it’s the ninth wedding borne of her matchmaking skills.
It’s at said wedding where she meets Harry (Pedro Pascal), a tall, rich, handsome, kind, single man. He’s what those in the matchmaking biz call a “unicorn.” It’s at the same wedding, however, that she runs into her ex-boyfriend John (Chris Evans), a tall, not-rich, handsome, passionate single man who works catering jobs between attempts at becoming a stage actor. Harry has a penthouse apartment. John has roommates. Harry can hire a driver for you. John has to find street parking because garages are too expensive. This leaves Lucy at a crossroads: should she go with the safe bet/good investment, or the guy who drives her insane in both good and bad ways. Not helping the matter is the fact that Lucy’s job as a matchmaker has turned her quite cynical in the realm of love.
Writer/director Celine Song (Past Lives) has a lot of fun playing with rom-com tropes. We’ve seen the logic vs passion choice in, well, just about every rom-com that ever existed, but in this case there’s one glaring and compelling difference: neither guy is a bad choice, nor is either perfect. They’re both flawed, good men, and Lucy would be smart to choose either. There are versions of this movie where either man emerges the victor (for lack of a better term), or where Lucy chooses to walk away from both, and each version would prove satisfying and sensible (there’s even a throuple version that could work). As such, a film that adheres to some semblance of formula simultaneously dodges the formula at every turn. The issue with so many films of the genre is that they don’t resemble real life. Materialists feels like a real life situation that would inspire someone to write a rom-com about their experience (if you can ignore that the lead trio are astonishingly attractive movie stars who don’t at all look like real people).
Song also has fun with a charming, off-beat opening scene involving two cave-people falling in love long before humans existed. It’s weird, but it quickly becomes sweet, and as the film marinates in its themes, namely the intangibility of love vs. the business acumen that could facilitate a logical, materially beneficial coupling, the opening is brought into focus. It feels like a very Woody Allen touch (this is a compliment, don’t @ me) — a mix of sweet and silly to offset the cynicism that our lead doesn’t know she wishes to expunge, or even if she should (note: between this and Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, it’s been a good year for Woody Allen movies that no one will yell at me for enjoying since they’re not made by Woody Allen). And while I’m at it, yes, New York itself could be considered a character.
Song elevates the genre with clever and beautiful direction. Small stylistic flourishes punctuate the rhythm, while the camera always seems to know where to look to catch the subtle nuances of the central performances. A mid-film sequence in which Lucy’s skills as a matchmaker are called into question feature an astonishing supporting performance from Zoe Winters. One scene has her delivering a heartbreaking monologue that is enhanced by Song’s intuitive camera placement, assisted by an economical edit.
By the time the film reaches its final reel it almost can’t help but to be swallowed by the tropes it worked so hard to subvert, complete with passionate declarations of love and “you had me at hellos”, and while I did feel a well-earned inclination to roll my eyes, I also found myself too wrapped up in things to care. Logic dictates that I should scoff, but my emotions told me to just go with it — to not try and quantify what should and shouldn’t be — to just let things be what they are and love them for it.
Stay through the credits and look closely…
Directed by Celine Song
Written by Celine Song
Starring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal, Marin Ireland
Rated R, 116 minutes
