Summer Film Festival 2025 - Materialists

The Summer Film Festival is continuing on at the Dietrich Theater. For this edition, I was able to check out two more film festival selections. For this review, I will be talking about the A24 film “Materialists.”

A young NYC matchmaker’s lucrative business gets complicated as she finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.

While the trailers for this film almost makes this look like a romantic comedy in a way, “Materialists” is more of a drama. This film does feature a bit of dry humor here and there, mainly from actor Chris Evans. The film also does a decent job taking its time unfolding a modern love story that keeps it relatable at times and engaging.

“Materialists” shows us a fresh, new take on modern romance, particularly how it examines the compromises some people make for love/romance and the tension between material desires and genuine connection. This film not only shows how modern dating has changed over the years (there’s a couple scenes where we see someone trying to find a match by making it almost sound like a job interview), it also dives into the matchmaking business as well.

One thing that really stands out with this film is the casting of the three main leads: Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal (who seems like he’s in everything nowadays) and Chris Evans. Johnson has great on-screen chemistry with the two actors and that truly helps make the relationships with their characters feel really genuine.

Not only does the film focus on the matchmaking business and modern dating, there’s also an emotional subplot that involves one of Lucy’s (Johnson) clients being assaulted during a first date. This client’s assault also changes Lucy who begins to think about the matchmaking business and makes her wonder if she actually knows the people that she tries to get together with.

The film’s ending can also be satisfying and I also found it a bit surprising that I saw

some viewers were actually divided with the ending. And, no I won’t be spoiling the ending here since it would reveal who Lucy ends up with!

“Materialists” also delivers some fairly thought-provoking themes that explore the complexities of love, materialism and modern relationships. The film also explores the tension between the desire for financial security and the pursuit of genuine, heartfelt love (even if he’s not financially secure).

Cast: Dakota Johnson (Lucy); Chris Evans (John); Pedro Pascal (Harry); Zoe Winters (Sophie); Dosha Nakrasova (Daisy); Louisa Jacobson (Charlotte); Eddie Cahill (Robert)

Writer/director: Celine Song (Past Lives)

MPA; Rated R for language and brief sexual material   (runtime 116 minutes)

The remaining show dates and times for “Materialists” during the Summer Film Festival are as follows: Wednesday July 23 (7:00); Saturday July 26 (2:15); Thursday July 31 (7:00).

• Writer/director Celine Song's name is listed as the playwright for John's play on a poster outside the theater, because the play is actually a real one she wrote back in 2016.

• While Lucy and Harry's apartments were filmed on-location, John's apartment was built in-studio. Director Celine Song shared photographs of a place where her husband, Justin Kuritzkes, formerly lived, as a reference point for the dilapidated apartment.

• Like Celine Song's debut feature Past Lives (2023), this movie is shot on 35mm film stock.

• First thoughts for the film began around 10 years ago, when writer/director Celine Song worked for a professional matchmaking service for about six months.

• The film was shot during peak wedding season, which restricted location options. Rather than being able to film the wedding sequence in one venue, production was split across four locations.