Materialists: Trailer, certificate and where to watch
Pedro Pascal, Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans star in a New York romance
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
A New York triangle romance starring Pedro Pascal, Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans, Celine Song's follow-up to her Oscar-nominated Past Lives is a glossily thoughtful affair that draws on her time working as a matchmaker in NYC. Johnson plays Lucy, an actress-turned-matchmaker who works with high-end clients, trying to sell them on one date after another. Pedro Pascal is Harry, a man of wealth and taste who seems like the perfect catch and is interested in Lucy for more than just her professional services while Chris Evans is Lucy's ex, John, a struggling theatre actor who waits tables and pines painfully for her.
There's a conventional romcom version of this story that's happier and less thoughtful, and less focused on the idea of dating as a marketplace where looks, personality and income give people an inherent ranking - so, if you want that, be wary.
Materialists has plenty of the glamour of the traditional New York romcom though. and there are moments when it touches on something real. The starkest example of this crops up outside the main three characters - it's with one of Lucy's clients, who has a date that takes a really awful turn. That's the bit that will make you sit up and take notice. It's a moment that will make you question the ending, and linger long in the mind after the credits roll. (116 minutes)
