The problem with so many rom-coms — one of the problems, anyway — is how often we’re asked to conveniently dismiss our knowledge of life’s realities. Particularly economic ones.
How does this person live in a spacious, light-filled apartment when they have a beginner’s salary, for instance? (In London, or Manhattan!) How can they buy chic designer clothes, or afford those long taxi rides?
By this metric alone, Celine Song's “Materialists” is something else entirely. Song’s characters tell us bluntly what their salary is, or how much their apartment costs. Economic reality, in fact, drives the narrative.
Still, it’s understandable how one can watch the trailer for “Materialists,” with the starry trio of Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans, and feel a little concerned. Especially if you loved “Past Lives,” her stunning debut film that explored not only love and longing but the very idea that our romantic choices, right or wrong, bring lifelong consequences. Compared to that soulful film, “Materialists” looks suspiciously like it could be glossy, superficial and … OK, loads of fun! But perhaps a bit more Bridget Jones than Celine Song.
Let’s look at the similarities, though. Again, Song is writing about a triangle of a woman and two men, each deserving of our empathy and understanding (no cad-like Hugh Grant character here).
And Song, who based “Past Lives” on an experience she had when contacted by a former love, is again writing what she knows. For six months in New York, while a struggling playwright, she worked for a matchmaking firm.
As does Johnson’s Lucy, who's good at what she does. Passing a good-looking guy, she stops: “Hey, are you single?” She offers her card. That man will become a client, and his demands are chilling: at 48, he’s ready for a slightly older woman than usual. No, not in her 30s. Even 27 is pushing it. Another man gives the maximum BMI his partner can be. Men are usually the villains here, but women aren’t immune to being superficial jerks, either.
But Lucy has somehow beaten the odds. Early in the film, she’s being feted at the offices of Adore, the firm she works for: Charlotte and Peter are getting married, and it’s the NINTH wedding of Lucy’s making!
Still, there’s one woman whose prospects Lucy despairs of. Sophie (a superb Zoe Winters, both vulnerable and dignified) reports having a wonderful time on her date. Lucy, delighted, calls the man, who did not. “She’s 40 and fat,” he says.
Lucy promises Sophie that she will soon find and marry the love of her life. But privately to her colleague, she admits there may not be a guy who “just wants a nice girl.”
At Charlotte’s wedding, Harry (Pascal), the groom’s handsome brother, notices Lucy and starts to flirt. Turns out, he’s everything a woman could want: Rich, successful, nice, the right height. To Lucy, he’s a “unicorn” — and an ideal client.
Then the cute waiter drops off her favorite drink combo before she can ask: a beer and a Coke. It's John, a former boyfriend. He looks like … well, like Chris Evans. He’s scruffy and adorable, but he’s a cater waiter and struggling actor. The two had split up years ago, we learn, over money — meaning, his lack thereof.
Money, Song points out repeatedly here, is not merely a sideline issue; It’s a driving force in relationships, even good, honest ones. Anyone who’s ever fought bitterly over money with a loved one can understand this. Many movies seem to think we don’t.
And so our triangular love story progresses over tricky terrain. (Johnson, Pascal and Evans, expertly cast, all do excellent work). Harry doesn’t want to be Lucy’s client, he wants HER. “The math doesn’t add up,” she protests. "I’m the kind of girl you go home with once and never call again.” But Lucy lets herself be wooed — how can she resist a $12 million Tribeca duplex? With those expertly sliced radishes at breakfast?
Still, Lucy can’t erase John from her mind — mid-30s John who lives in a cramped apartment with roommates who swipe his charger and leave dirty condoms on the floor (Song does not make this cute-funny. It’s also sad.) A life Lucy thought she had left.
Then there's Sophie. The sharpest scene in the film is a devastating confrontation between Lucy and her trusting client. On a date, something terrible has happened. Is it Lucy’s fault that some people are bad humans? No, but it shines a light on a sordid part of the dating world. And it shakes Lucy to the core.
Obviously there's a final act here. How Song resolves this particular triangle is certainly different from the resolution in “Past Lives,” where an Uber car arrived to separate two people we ached to see together, somehow.
In “Materialists,” I confess I found myself wondering if, in the end, Lucy would really make the choice she does — or even if we’re supposed to believe it’s a final choice. But that doesn’t mean the experience rings hollow. A smart rom-com that tries to be honest about life and still leave us smiling — that math seems to add up just fine.
“Materialists,” an A24 release, has been rated R by the Motion Pictire Association “for language and brief sexual material." Running time: 116 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press
