Matherialists

 The Materialists was an elaborate reflection of what it means to love -- not as a transactional, traditional construct, but as a human being. Reminiscent of Zooey Deschanel's character in 500 Days of Summer, Dakota Johnson stars as a matchmaker for hire named Lucy who has never managed to find what she pitches for herself. She came close once with John (played by Chris Evans), a rough and tumble guy who works at a catering company. When she meets Harry (Pedro Pascal), she is thrown into the center of a love triangle that puts her in a juxtaposition of class and money vs poor and genuine. As her work life begins to have effects on her love life, she begins to learn what love really is.

The opening scenes of the film show cave people getting engaged. It then jumps right into Lucy's completely materialist life. She is very shallow with her clients, telling them exactly what they want to hear and what will make her money. It feels a lot like the Mom-Tok aesthetic present in Utah Valley where all that matters is what people look like and what they have. All of Lucy's clients talk about the specific things they want in a man, and no surprise, they are all physical and material: man in finance, 6' 5", trust fund... with Lucy going so far as to suggest that a client get surgery by breaking their legs to gain six inches of height. She only sees the things that a person can write on a page, much like what would go on a dating profile. She acts like an algorithm for her clients, stating "it's easy, it's just math." Lucy suggests that dating is simple: find people who check your boxes and make weddings happen. If it's that easy, then why don't increasingly popular dating apps work? Why has the divorce rate gone up instead of down? 

The movie's previously glassy and gilded plot is shattered when one of Lucy's clients, Sophie L., is sexually assaulted on her first date with one of Lucy's matches. Prior to that, Lucy presents herself as advantageous because she is human: she knows what love ought to feel like and how best to find it, right? Sophie's case shows that she isn't any better than an algorithm and can make similar mistakes, which drives Lucy to re-evaluate her relationship with Harry. Not all mistakes are as serious as sexual assault, evident in the break-up that ensues. 

The entire script is written without any sort of sarcasm. It is completely flat and literal. All facial expressions are direct and there is no ambiguity in how the characters feel or what they are trying to say. They don't hold anything back to save some sort of awkwardness from forming. They explain in words what is happening in their minds. It is both refreshing and frustrating, but it just works in this film. 

This movie is far from perfect. The ending is long and drawn out, making the viewer think that it would end several times before it actually does. Team Harry is too easy to be a part of, which speaks a lot on what the relationship was supposed to mean, and makes the separation that much more important. The fact that Lucy ends up with a remarkably unchanged John by the end of the movie is aggravating, especially since it feels like they are just falling back into old habits. We don't get to see if Lucy takes advantage of John, but we can hope that she doesn't. 

All in all, this was a very entertaining movie that offers a slightly more realistic perspective of love without making it distasteful and bitter. It gives a voice to the all-too-often story where relationships are started out of convenience or material benefit without condemning such a situation. We can't help but feel that Harry was the better choice even though love wasn't there. We can't say that materialist relationships are bad because we want one for Lucy. The decisions that follow demonstrate that love really is just feelings, and the situations whose "math" work so well aren't necessarily the perfect match.

8.9/10