Rent Materialists (2025)

Overthought and Underfelt - Materialists review by griggs

Plenty of ideas on the table—modern dating, identity, the way people talk past each other—but not all of them land. Materialists is heavy on the chat, and not always in a good way. There are laughs, mostly of the sharp and awkward variety, but the rhythm never quite settles. It often feels like a dinner party monologue drifting into TED Talk territory.

The performances are perfectly solid, but the casting feels slightly off. The lines don’t always sit right in the mouths that deliver them—like hearing someone else read your diary aloud. It creates a strange distance, just when the film needs connection.

Where it does hit is its take on emotional shortcuts—the belief that if you say the right thins, earn enough money, and tick enough boxes, love will automatically follow. But too many of these characters seem more invested in being loved than in doing the work of loving someone else—or even themselves. The film understands that performance without presence won't cut it.

There are moments of insight and humour, but it keeps you at arm's length. Clever, watchable, but hard to fully believe in.

Ok Romantic Drama - A Little Underwhelming - Materialists review by GI

Despite the various descriptions of this as a romcom it's really a romantic drama with very little actual comedy. In many ways it's a classic story of a woman torn between two men and hesitating over which to choose. In this case Dakota Johnson playing Lucy, a Manhattan based professional matchmaker much lauded in her company for the success she has in pairing wealthy couples. At the wedding of one, after dealing with the bride's sudden doubts, she meets the groom's brother, Harry (Pedro Pascal), a wealthy bachelor to whom she offers her services although he quickly asserts it's she in whom he is interested. However despite being the perfect catch at the same event she meets her old boyfriend, John (Chris Evans), a struggling, penniless actor moonlighting as a waiter and working at the wedding. A nasty incident involving two of her clients forces Lucy to look at the materialistic and cynical business she is involved in and hence decide whether love trumps material security. The end result is quite predictable and while Johnson, a rather beautiful and very natural actor with a great screen presence, is good the narrative is overall underwhelming and sometimes a little silly. It is good that the film doesn't fall for the cliché of the two male rivals having any sort of face off as it's focused only on Lucy's re-examining of what is important in forming life long romantic relationships. Watchable, entertaining and OK.