Materialists (2025)

Celine Song has a lot to say about love. She decided that she didn’t say enough in Past Lives and needed to make another movie with the three most gorgeous people on earth. Hot as they are, unfortunately I don’t think there’s enough chemistry between the main leads to nudge this story into believable territory. 

What did appreciate was the witty dialogue about modern dating - both the cold, paint-by-numbers materialism of matchmaking, and, the terrifying unpredictability of romantic connections. Celine certainly is good at writing dialogue, but the first rule of good storytelling is to show and not tell. And there is so little show that even her exceptional writing is straining not to make the conversation sound trite at times, especially between Chris and Dakota. 

If you haven’t seen Past Lives, I strongly recommend watching it first before this so you can better contextualize what the film wants to say. One last thing, I think the hot priest’s speech in Fleabag can also add to this experience and i was reminded of this a lot in the theater:

“Love is awful. It’s awful. It makes you doubt yourself, judge yourself, distance yourself from the other people in your life. It makes you selfish, makes you creepy, makes you obsessed with your hair, makes you cruel, makes you say and do things you never thought you’d do. It’s all any of us want, and it’s hell when you get there. So no wonder it’s something we don’t want to do on our own”