White Knight
A24
MOVIE REVIEW
Materialists (2025)
Spoiler alert: Celine Song always chooses the white dude.
In “Materialists,” the follow-up to her much-lauded debut, “Past Lives,” Ms. Song once again finds her heroine – this time Lucy (Dakota Johnson), a professional Millionaire Matchmaker – amid a love triangle. At her clients’ wedding reception, she spots her next most eligible bachelor, Harry Castillo (Pedro Pascal). Thing is, he is more interested in her than being her customer.
Once again, enters the old flame: John (Chris Evans), a server at the same reception. By day, he’s a struggling actor. He and Lucy apparently didn’t get along all that well, as a flashback shows them arguing over where to park in Manhattan. For some inexplicable reason, she can’t quite get over him, like Ginger couldn’t get Lester out of her mind in “Casino.” Their relationship could potentially jeopardize her happily ever after with the wealthy and debonair Latine.
Touted as a lighthearted commercial rom-com, “Materialists” is actually a mea culpa for “Past Lives.” In order to properly assess what’s going on here it’s necessary to spoil Lucy’s decision. In “Past Lives,” Ms. Song’s more overtly personal film, her avatar, Nora (Greta Lee), briefly reconnects with – or rather, indulges – her ex, Hae-sung (Teo Yoo), during his visit to New York from South Korea. The film suggests he still harbors some romantic feelings toward her, but she’s moved on and gotten married to the white guy, Arthur (John Magaro), who will apparently go on to ponder his own threesome with “Challengers.”
“Materialists” presents the what-if alternative, though with Ms. Johnson in the lead the implications seem less direct. This time Ms. Song’s heroine ultimately chooses her old boyfriend, supposedly prioritizing true love over, you know, material things. But the protagonist again picks white. It’s the thread connecting the two films, no matter how unintentional or how much of a Freudian slip.
Since “Materialists” is not as implicitly personal, there’s almost no introspection involved on Ms. Song’s part. There’s a bigger budget this time, but she clearly hasn’t properly thought through her own hypothetical scenario. She doesn’t present a convincing case at all as to why John is a better suitor than Harry, which makes the race factor even more difficult to look past. Lucy also disowns her own career in the end, which isn’t the moral position that Ms. Song thinks it is. We’re just happy for Hae-sung or whoever he is I.R.L., because he clearly deserves better.
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