Hey friends, Barbarella here to tell you how completely disappointing Materialists is. How can a movie where Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans vie for the affections of a matchmaker fail so badly? Well, let me tell you.
For starters, the chemistry between Dakota Johnson and either romantic rival doesn't quite feel like it's intense enough, so perhaps the casting has some impact, but I don't think that's the issue. I think the script deserves the blame. Don't get me wrong. The story includes lots of laughable moments around dating expectations and so forth. However, one expects characters to evolve throughout a story, to learn lessons, gain deeper understanding or just grow into better people through interactions with others or situations in which they find themselves. None of this happens. So much of the story just makes no sense.
For instance, we are led to believe that Lucy, who’s been a top matchmaker for quite some time, never knew that people in real life are sometimes different than they appear on paper. She only learns this when an incident occurs with one of the couples she matches. I mean, anyone who’s ever been on a dating site or watched a True Crime story should know that people can portray themselves as something that they’re not. Technically, she apparently does already know people lie on the questionnaire because she comments about guys lying about their height.
For her to apparently have this “revelation” that makes her reevaluate her priorities simply doesn’t track. While that bothers me enough that I’m going to go into it more in the next paragraph, what bothers me more is that the event that happens leads me to believe that the story is about to delve into something far more intriguing. However, nothing happens with it; it’s clearly only intended to be an impetus to her changing her mind about everything she’s believed since childhood. I become genuinely disappointed when such an interesting and potent topic gets brought up only to be discarded immediately. It could have taken the story into some genuinely thought-provoking and thrilling territory, but no. We step over that carcass of a tantalizing idea and move back to dating dilemmas.
As promised, here’s my rant about my disappointment in Lucy’s sudden change of mind. Does writer Celine Song expect us to believe that Lucy suddenly no longer has a need based on a belief she acquired in childhood and has been reinforced since then because she discovers that people looking for relationships aren’t always truthful on matchmaking questionnaires? (Again, she kind of already knew that.) People don’t suddenly change who they are, especially something that formed when they were young. In fact, they can spend their whole lives trying to overcome traits and thought patterns that developed in childhood. I mean, even when things go bad, and people know that they need to change, it’s a difficult thing to actually do. Such a quick turnaround makes no sense whatsoever, and I find myself shaking my head at how effortless she changes her mind, especially because nothing she experiences personally, not even the men in her life, seem to influence her. Let’s talk about the men for a minute.
Pedro Pascal plays Harry, called the unicorn because he’s considered the perfect match – rich, handsome, tall, charming, generous, kind, etc. Chris Evans plays struggling actor, John, a man that Lucy dated once upon a time, but it didn’t exactly work out. Both men are kind and treat her respectfully, but from where I sit, neither offer anything to sway her decisions. Also, nothing that occurs in the story would believably lead her in the direction in which she goes. Something needs to happen: more drama, more romance, more observational moments, just something more logical.
While Materialists offers a few laughs, no one actually evolves, so I walk away from the theater thinking, "That was pointless." Materialists is now playing.
