In an age where you can toss anything you desire into an online shopping cart, even love can approximate a business transaction. But as Celine Song’s romcom “Materialist” illustrates, romance keels toward the unruly and can’t really be manufactured or programed to our specific needs. And that’s what makes her sophomore feature one of the most unexpectedly romantic dramedies in some time, a shrewd, relatable story that celebrates the absolute messiness of romance and does so with intelligence and humor.
Dakota Johnson tackles one of her more challenging roles and gets well-cast as icy New York matchmaker Lucy, a mover and shaker in full control of her emotions and someone who applies a clinical eye to her sought-out services. She leaves nothing to fate or chance and the matchmaking she orchestrates invariably leads to forming a mutual contract that looks good both on paper and in photos.
Lucy continues to be on the fast track and is happily single. And then she meets a swoonable guy in the form of sinfully wealthy charmer Harry Castillo (Pedro Pascal, who could sweep almost anyone off their feet). They flirt, look terrific together and study each other at a soiree where Lucy’s struggling actor ex (Chris Evans) is working as a server.
Song intersperses the relationships that ensue for this very attractive trio (played so well by all three principles) with frank, funny interviews with Lucy’s clients, as they divulge what traits they are looking for in that special someone — impossible requirements and foolish demands that are so narrowly focused that they disavow any spontaneity or joy of discovery. They provide perfect accent points to the film’s overall themes.
Song defies expectations with this follow-up to her emotional earthquake of a first feature “Past Lives.” And while “Materialists” isn’t as seamless as her first film, it, too, features a vibrant screenplay. Song’s ambitious film stumbles when she navigates the story into some disturbing territory that, while essential to the film, needed to be more thoroughly explored and not relegated to a subplot.
To Song’s credit, she isn’t afraid of thinking outside of the box when it comes to romantic dramedies, even though it embraces the classic elements of the genre. What makes “Materialists” such a surprise is that even though it’s realistic about the indefinable nature of love it’s never cynical even when it ribs matchmaking services and our finicky desires.
If anything it celebrates abandoning expectations and allowing ourselves to be free spirits in romance. Song gets there by creating a real dilemma for Lucy, a character who is frustrating but relatable. She evaluates where to go with the sure thing, the former thing or to be content with being on her own. In “Materialists,” we never know which path any of the characters will take and that’s what makes it a union of romance and brains, a story where love does triumph over formulas and theorems and calculated algorithms.
Contact Randy Myers at [email protected].
‘MATERIALISTS’
3 stars out of 4
Rating: R (for language and brief sexual situation
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, Chris Evans
Writer/director: Celine Song
Running time: 1 hour, 57 minutes
When & where: Opens June 13 in theaters