• Director: Celine Song
• Screenplay: Celine Song
• Cast: Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal
• Cinematography: Shabier Kirchner
• Editing: Keith Fraase
• Score: Daniel Pemberton
• Genre: Romantic comedy-drama
• Runtime: 117 minutes

In Celine Song’s sophomore outing as a director/writer, she takes the mating dance that is 21st century dating and examines it with laser sharp precision. Love is the easy part, finding your perfect match is where the difficulty lies.

Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is professional matchmaker. The concept seems out of step with the multitudinous dating apps available, where users can pick prospective partners with one swipe of a finger. She’s a physical presence, a comforting face amidst the woes of rejection. A middleman in her industry, acting as a therapist of sorts to her clientiele. Her role is to assign these people the soulmate of their dreams, determined by a similar financial situation, political leaning and attractiveness. Height is crucial too: the taller the man, the greater the value. So much for short kings.

It’s all mathematics, with no consideration for personal chemistry. Sure, there’s always the chance you could have an encounter in ‘the wild’ but the New York City clients Lucy deals with reek of desperation. They’re insufferably unrealistic and picky. Nobody wants to die alone apparently. As if that was a negative option.

Lucy is no exception; she herself contributes towards the shallowness of our society. At the same time her destitute ex-boyfriend (Chris Evans) reappears in her life, she’s instead drawn closer to a suave billionaire (Pedro Pascal). He is, as per dating terminology, a ‘unicorn’ – he’s rich, tall, handsome (debatable) and is drama-free. Too good to be true, right?

An astutely written observation of love and romance, ‘Materialists‘ is complemented by Song’s stylish direction, which emphasises a world of opulence and superficiality.

My rating: 9 / 10