Ron’s Review

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What an unusual film. Not what I expected at all. Slow moving study on the nature of love and relationships. Is it something indescribable or simple maths that brings two people together? Didn’t realise this was something I wanted to ponder but I found myself surprisingly captivated.

This is no Past Lives, unfortunately. Not as weighty and relatable. The characters aren’t all that likable, though they do seem human. I love the long takes of the characters talking. Kind of an old school way of shooting a film but I’ve begun to really enjoy that.

The acting in the first act was, there’s no better way to say this, atrocious. What was happening with the dialogue delivery? Pedro Pascal is good but Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans were terrible. They did get better, which was a relief. I actually think Johnson was miscast. This role seemed to be written for Anne Hathaway. She would’ve been perfect in it.

There’s a twist, can we call it a twist?, part way through which was an excellent story decision. It ups the stakes and makes the events of the film feel more real. Also, Zoe Winters was astounding. I’ve never seen her before but my word, such an impactful and heartbreaking performance. She was the best part of this film.

I don’t know if I like the ending. No, I don’t like the ending. I don’t think it works. But then the point of the story would be lost. Maybe it’s not for me to decide.

I mostly enjoyed this film and it made me think. Not sure why it’s so divisive. It’s not really anything to write home about.

Mon’s Review

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I love Past Lives. It’s one of my favourites. I knew, going in to watch Materialists that it would not live up to the standards of Past Lives, but even then, I didn’t expect to be quite as disappointed as I ended up being.

First up, Materialists is about the matchmaking and dating scene. Guess who has no interest in that? Now, you can have a story about something that no one knows about and still make it wonderfully universal. That’s what made Past Lives so special. Celine Song tries that with Materialists, but the dialogue comes across as so stilted. The message is lost as the ‘math’ behind the suitability of the characters as partners becomes the theme, without commenting enough on how ludicrous the math is. Bar a couple of throwaway moments, the film doesn’t take the time to scoff at how a thin woman is called fat by a man she went on a date with, and the lengths some men think of going to to be in the dating game. And, very late into the story are the potential dangers of dating for women presented.

I really wanted to like this film, but it just kept falling flat. It doesn’t help that the main stars don’t have the chemistry needed to make us root for their relationships. The performances are ok. Pedro Pascal doesn’t get a ton of screen time, but he’s good in what we see of him. Dakota Johnson is her usual doe-eyed self — there was only one, short scene where I was floored by how well she displayed her character’s emotions. Chris Evans is fine. He’s really embracing the down-on-his-luck side of his performance choices. He’s almost always easily watchable, and remains so here as well.

What I did like were the long takes for several scenes. They allowed us to live in the moment and listen to what the characters were saying. It helped us understand some of their motivations.

I’m not sure about the ending. It didn’t feel earned, mainly because we don’t learn enough about one of the characters to make a proper decision. On the surface level, it’s easy to make a decision. But the thinking behind that choice would have made much more sense if that relationship had been given time to breathe.

I got the feeling that the romantic elements and denouement were tacked on. Past Lives beautifully avoided that, but Materialists gets caught up in it, and that makes for a weaker story.

Spoilers

I’m confused why, in a story from 2025, there’s no mention of the female character just being the breadwinner. If she’s earning more and doing better than her male partner, but said male partner is providing something intangible that she really really wants, then bite the bullet, ask him to move in to your already established home, and earn the big bucks. Nope, that never comes up. Now, had she said she wanted to be taken care of, and that would be a sacrifice of getting together with someone not as financially stable, then we could have had some sort of stakes in the story. But that’s not there. It became this weird, archaic ritual of shaming the dude for wanting to follow his unstable and low-paying passion, while assuming the woman is incapable of taking care of them both. If the money's not enough, then it’s not enough. Either choose to struggle together or don’t bother.

End spoilers.