Do Critics Love Dakota Johnson’s Romantic Comedy?

Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans’ Materialists is now in theaters. Are critics falling for the film or suggesting that viewers don’t make it a date?

Rated R, Materialists is written and directed by Past Lives Oscar-nominated filmmaker Celine Song. The logline for Materials reads, “A young, ambitious New York City matchmaker finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.”

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Johnson stars as the matchmaker Lucy, in Materialists, while Pascal plays Harry, a wealthy financier and potential perfect match. Evans plays John, Lucy’s ex-boyfriend.

Materialists opens in theaters in wide release on Friday. Rotten Tomatoes critics to date have given Materialists an 87% “fresh” rating based on 101 reviews.

The RT Critics Consensus for the film reads, “A mature deconstruction of the conventional rom-com, Materialists provides its trio of swoon-worthy stars some of their meatiest material yet while reaffirming Celine Song as a modern master of relationship dramas.”

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Materialists also currently has a 78% “fresh” Popcornmeter score on RT based on 100-plus verified user ratings. The RT audience summary is still pending.

What Are Critics Saying About ‘Materialists’?

Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post is among the top critics on RT who gives Materialists a “fresh” rating on RT, writing how the film “marks the emergence of a new genre: the rom-con, not in the sense that it’s against the vicarious pleasures of flirting, seduction and finally finding true love, but that it’s painfully aware of the coldhearted calculation that so often lies beneath.”

Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair also gives Materialists a “fresh” rating on RT, writing in his summary, “Materialists is successfully seductive, eventually revealing a few potential deal-breakers but otherwise proving an engaging date. I wanted to fall in love, as I had with Past Lives. But a diverting, heady fling will do too.”

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Kyle Smith of The Wall Street Journal also gives the film a “fresh” review on RT, although he notes some reservations, writing, “Though Materialists only partially delivers on its promise, is only occasionally funny, and has little to say that’s new, Ms. Song and her cast put enough feeling into it to make it glow.”

Among the top critics on RT who give Materialists a “rotten” review is Odie Henderson of the Boston Globe, who writes, “You are being misled by the marketing of Materialists. The new film by writer-director Celine Song is being pitched to you as a light romantic comedy and date movie, which it most decidedly is not.”

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Justin Chang of The New Yorker also gives the film a “rotten” review on RT, writing, “I don’t buy it, Jane Austen wouldn’t buy it, and deep down I don’t think [Celine] Song buys it. In attempting to merge escapist pleasures with financial realities, Materialists trips up on its own high-mindedness.”

The Globe and Mail’s Saffron Maeve also gives the film a “rotten” review on RT, noting, “Materialists is, at best, genre confused and, at worst, negligent to its own ideological position — a stiff, reluctant rom-com that cannot square the footloose idealism of its predecessors with the terrifying realities of today’s dating pool.”

Materialists is opening in theaters Friday in wide release.

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