faith-and-culture
Materialists: A Matchmaker’s Crisis of Confidence
R · 116m · Dir. Celine Song · Released 2025-06-12
Light spoilers ahead: we cover the setup and a few themes, but no major twists or the ending.
Lucy arranges other people’s futures for a living. She audits compatibility with the cool precision of an accountant. Then her own heart offers two bids. One man is a unicorn. The other is her ex. Neither fits the formula. Celine Song’s follow-up to Past Lives is a tender, talky romance about the anxiety of choosing. It is also rated R for a reason.
What Is Materialists About?
Lucy (Dakota Johnson) runs matchmaking dates like a business. She interviews clients and pairs them off according to net worth and waistlines. Her system works until it doesn't. A match ends with a client assaulted. Another client demands racially exclusive dating pools. Lucy starts to suspect that her ledger is missing a column.
Then she meets Harry (Pedro Pascal). He is wealthy and interested. He looks perfect on paper. Around the same time, her ex John (Chris Evans) reappears. He is an actor with debt and a rusted car. He is also warm and inconvenient. The film spends two hours weighing these men against each other. It also weighs Lucy against her own cynicism.
The script is more conventional than Past Lives. Song still finds moments of real ache. The camera lingers on small humiliations. The dialogue snaps without turning cruel. By the end, the movie has not solved modern dating. It has simply observed it with patience.
Is It Appropriate? Content & Family Guide
This adult romance earns its R rating and is best reserved for viewers seventeen and older.
- Violence and death
- Characters describe a sexual assault that occurred during a date and ongoing harassment, including the man appearing outside the woman's home. A man throws another man's phone into boiling liquid during an argument. Several breakups and arguments occur, some with yelling.
- Sex and romance
- Multiple implied sex scenes show couples in bed with partial nudity, including bare shoulders and backs. A passionate kissing scene leads to clothing strewn on a floor. A character steps on a used condom. Several other kissing and embracing scenes occur. Dialogue references OnlyFans and physical expectations in dating. Some outfits reveal cleavage and bare skin.
- Language
- At least 22 F-words appear alongside scatological terms and sharp name-calling, including a religious profanity.
- Substance use
- Characters smoke cigarettes in several scenes. Social drinking occurs at gatherings and in bars. Dialogue references marijuana use and a character with a drinking problem.
The Arithmetic of Affection
The film treats dating like a market. Clients list height requirements and income floors. Lucy believes she is protecting people from mismatch. She is also protecting herself from risk. The movie is smartest when it shows how this math fails. A perfect scorecard does not predict kindness. A high net worth does not guarantee safety. Song seems less interested in which man Lucy picks than in whether Lucy can still believe in choosing at all. That is a harder question. It is also a more honest one.
Imperfect Characters in an Imperfect World
Nobody here is a hero. Lucy is sharp and wounded. John is prickly and broke. Harry has secrets tucked inside his polished charm. They lie and speak cruelly when cornered, yet the film does not frame them as villains. It simply lets them be human. For Christian viewers, this common grace is refreshing because it refuses to flatten people into types. The story sees its people clearly. It loves them anyway.
Where the Film Stops Short
Materialists flirts with big ideas about love and money. It never quite lands them. The assault subplot is serious, but it functions more like a plot point than a sustained exploration of harm or justice. Conversations about race and class in dating raise eyebrows without much follow-through. The ending settles for romance rather than transformation. That is fine. It is also a little safe.
The Scorecard
Our Faith & Family Scorecard
Family-friendliness
Content suitability
Entertainment
Craft and enjoyment
Faith & discussion value
Conversation it sparks
Best for: Mature viewers interested in relationship dramas that ask questions without preaching answers.
A well-acted, slightly conventional romance about dating as commerce. The R rating is earned. The insight is partial.
Cornerstone Faith Publishing
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Sources: Kids-In-Mind, Common Sense Media, TMDb
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