Review: Materialists

Official synopsis: A young, ambitious New York City matchmaker, Lucy (Dakota Johnson) finds herself torn between the perfect match, Harry (Pedro Pascal) and her imperfect ex, John. (Chris Evans)

Quick story time because the most ridiculous thing happened to me when I saw this movie. When I purchased my ticket, I saw two other seats were purchased in the back row. I always pick the front. Random dude walks in and says "hi." I say "hello" back, and he chooses to sit DIRECTLY behind me in an empty theater. About 5 minutes in, he asks if he can sit next to me, which I say "no." He tries to talk to me more, so I get up and move to the other end of the aisle. This is apparently his cue to walk his ass to the back of the theater to his assigned seat.

And of all the movies this encounter could happen to me in, it's the one about how creepy dating and going to meet up with a stranger can be. The irony is too much.

I was cautiously optimistic about director Celine Song's follow up to her wonderful Past Lives, but her casting Dakota Johnson as the lead always gave me pause. And as much as I tried to like her and as much as she does look like a cool girl from New York, she's just completely wooden and I don't understand how she keeps getting these roles. This type of movie is going to live and breath by the chemistry of its leads, and while Evans give her everything, she gives them nothing in return. Zoe Winters plays a character named Sophie who is a client of Lucy's and whose experience much of the film is built around, and every time she was on screen, I thought about how much better she would've been in Johnson's place. 

Sophie's addition to the story has been a pretty divisive part of the film because it involves an (off screen) sexual assault. And hearing that, I expected to hate it too, but I actually thought it worked overall. The entire concept of "matchmaking" in this film seems to vapid and for a matchmaker to come face to face with the risks of dating like this is probably a good reminder for a lot of people. Sophie, though a small part never lost her voice in it too. 

There's not a tone of depth to Pedro Pascal's character, and when we finally get a little bit of something, it's in his final scene. John is really the most realized and Evans does a great job, but the film is weakened by Johnson's performance and overall doesn't feel as buttoned up as Past Lives did.  

Grade: C+