A young, ambitious New York City matchmaker finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.

Celine Song’s follow up to the excellent ‘Past Lives’ is ‘Materialists’ a New York set drama about a matchmaker who finds herself torn between her broke ex-boyfriend and a handsome rich man who seduces her – a classic love triangle if you will. It stars Dakota Johnson in the leading role as Lucy Mason, who is an expert at finding the perfect matches for her clients at the high end Adore matchmaking agency, while being seemingly happy to be single in her own life. This position is challenged when she meets the brother of the groom (Pedro Pascal) at the wedding of clients she’d previously matched, and ends up starting a relationship, which in turn is complicated when she bumps into her ex (Chris Evans), who is a caterer at the event and still trying to get an acting career going, one that Lucy abandoned many years earlier.

The good parts of ‘Materialists’ centre on some of the observations into modern dating culture, particularly as Lucy deals with a series of clients who have increasingly unrealistic expectations, but it struggles to find any depth beyond these surface level critiques when it starts to look at Lucy’s own relationship circumstances / options. It’s a different film to ‘Past Lives’ but I did find it hard not to compare, and that movie was just so much more intimate, profound and moving with subtle and nuanced insights on relationships and connection. In comparison, ‘Materialists’ is incredibly thin.

It isn’t helped by Dakota Johnson’s spaced out and wooden leading performance, with heavy reliance on Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal to add some charisma, which they do. I also don’t think Song really knows what to do with her as a character, so we have some odd deviations including one particular bit surrounding a long term client which I felt sad oddly with the light and breezy tone of the rest of the film.

Despite those complaints, I did still enjoy ‘Materialists’ as a light hearted modern rom-com but set your expectations accordingly as this is a step down from the wonderful ‘Past Lives’.

Rating: 3/5

Directed By: Celine Song

Starring: Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, Chris Evans, Zoë Winters and Marin Ireland 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt30253473/