Reel Review: Materialists

Materialists is a glossy, razor-edged look at modern love—where status trumps soul, and connection is just another form of currency. Dakota Johnson plays Lucy, a high-end matchmaker who approaches romance like an investment portfolio: data-driven, curated, and controlled. But when her carefully structured world collides with two polar opposite men—Pedro Pascal’s polished wealthy client and Chris Evans’s broke but honest ex—her algorithm starts to glitch.

The film is less about falling in love and more about what love costs. Every scene oozes luxury, but there’s tension under the marble countertops and skyline views. The pacing is deliberate, the humor dry, and the romance more observational than emotional.

Johnson leans into the character’s contradictions—charming and cold, idealistic and calculating. Evans feels like the human heart of the film, while Pascal plays his role like a walking résumé—handsome, successful, and possibly empty. Their triangle isn’t about chemistry; it’s about choice: stability versus sincerity, branding versus reality.

Some threads—particularly around gender politics and power—could’ve gone deeper, but the film stays laser-focused on one question: in a world where everything’s for sale, is love still real?

Mitten’s Verdict: Elegant, cynical, and quietly cutting. Materialists rewrite the rules of romance for the algorithm age.