Celine’s song brings a beautiful depth to the traditional ROM-Com

What is ROM-Com? There is a literal answer to that question, of course, and yet while there are a myriad of films that one might quote that fits neatly into the definition of the subgenre, it is a question that becomes more difficult when trying to answer it outside of just using examples. After all, some sort of love story can be found in hundreds of films that do not fit inside the “ROM-Com” flag, and humor is an ingredient in those and hundreds of other films as well. The reason for all these questions is the result of that We currently enjoy a period of revival for the traditional romantic comedySubgenre who used to be a staple of the theatrical release landscape. Ever since streaming progress, however, these films have tended to be downgraded to the background of whatever service algorithm you are using, and since ROM-COM did not need to set itself separately in a busy market, none of these were exclusive streaming trying to push the envelope that much.

And yet the ROM-Com has been coming back so late, thanks to a large extent to the successes of Box Office as “Anyone but you” In addition to Stwnsh Genre as this year “Heart eyes.” Judging by marketing, the next big Salvo in Arsenal according to the ROM-Com appears to be “Methodists,” A film that stars three hot film stars (literally and figuratively), set in a large metropolitan city, and features the story of the love triangle of carp carps against wealth. If it had been done 25 years back-or if another filmmaker had been done-perhaps the film was exactly, a typical small, no more, no more, and no less.

Instead, “Materials” is the Sophomore feature by author/director Celine Song, who broke out with her Rich first movie “past lives” in 2023. Perhaps a more basic filmmaker has seen “materialists” as an opportunity to show their range, but while the film completely exhibits Song’s style agility, it also proves its ability as an auteur filmmaker. “Materials” is one of the most unique and warm romantic drains to come around in a bit, and while dropping those who want their ROM-COMS could be more surface and less feeling (and, to be honest, funny than what this film achieves), for those of us romants who long for depth.

As I said earlier, “materialists” is established as a quintessential ROM-com, which is the equivalent of a slasher film that is installed in a campsite cabin in the woods. In Modern City of New York, Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a female thirty career -oriented career in a high -end matching consulting firm. She claims to be achieved by being in a profession that gives what she feels is her best assets to use, which is plain but fairly assessing the value of a possible game. That is, Lucy is not in the business of helping rich people find true love, but she is there to help her find her best approximation of what they believe love looks. In heterosexual couplers (to whom the film is mainly involved), the men may be looking for a glorious assistant who doubles as an arm candy, while the women may be looking for much more than a man who will make their sister jealous.

Lucy’s capabilities have facilitated a streak of successful marriages, making it very valuable to those who would have seen a partner as a more business venture than a friend – in one case, the film shows us a bride with cold feet that would rather seek advice from Lucy by Lucy than any of her family or friends. Unfortunately, Lucy insists that she is inconceivable, and that she is going to be a small smallelorette. Her resignation to this fate is challenged once she meets Harry (Pedro Pascal), a man he dubbed “unicorn” because he is a perfect fight for almost any CIS woman: she rushes, educated, handsome, dotted, dotted, honest, honest, honest, and rich. On the same night she meets Harry, former -Lucy, John (Chris Evans), appears back in her life. Both had a turbulent relationship in their 20s, that Lucy broke at the end with John, a struggling theater actor, for financial reasons. Yet there is a deep, strong emotional connection between the two, a connection that Lucy does not feel or fight for Henry as he is an aggressive court. Can Lucy get it all, or is true love just a trivial variable?

Where a large studio version of this story would feature a series of comedy Shenanigans leading to an end that paid a lip service to the character’s emotions, a song goes deep and real at every time. That is, she does not bring herself to the ROM-Com, but vice versa, absorbing the ropes and predictions of the subgenre and finding the base reality in them. It’s a real feast to see a film with this structure is reduced to a handful of montages set to whatever pop track charting at the time, but instead filled with a sense of romantic aspiration, with a song tapping to the same irresistible fountain of emotions she captured in her previous film.

Warning: This section of the review mentions sexual assault.

However, there are restrictions to the romantic comedy, elements that “materialists” hit with its more base method that almost defrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Similarly an adventurous slasher stylistically like last year “In a violent nature” Dissatisfied were some Subgenre fans who felt that spining the film on the ropes was a strange fit, “materialists” featured a sexually assaulted character, and although it happens off the screen, the introduction of this topic comes close to breaking down the film’s ROM-com. Ultimately, the sub-plot works thanks to the dexterity of Song from the material, making it an integral part of the way she has involved so much reality in the lives of ROM-COM characters stock. There is a chance that some viewers might see the moment go too far, however, and it is difficult to blame given the fantasy that fulfills the wishes in which the typical ROM-COM is trading.

“Materialists” may also lose some people (especially because of the movie’s ROM-Com marketing) in its comedy, or general deficiency. Certainly, there is a great deal of sharp, witty dialogue that that song gives to their cast that they achieve with a duality, and yet these are good for a few chuckles alone. There is no belly laugh in the film, just because Song does not seem to have all that is interested in providing any. It all depends on what you look for in the film, of course, and it is lacking that I feel is more than compensated for by the wealth of the features and the overall cleverness of the film. Perhaps those who dig this choice and those who mourn it can compromise, and we can accumulate our efforts to convince a song to tackle the next screw ball romance.

Where “materialists” actually shine in the way he refuses to keep his leading characters at a facial level, and instead invites you to let Song and his cast take you into the Black in the characters. While a great deal of flash and sincerity is displayed in the film (thanks to a great extent to the design of Katina Danabassis’s penetrating costumes), “materialists” is a bit of bait and switch, the film that introduces you physically attractive people and makes them listen to them rather than just tilt them. Song, Director of Shabier Kirchner’s photography, and editor Keith Fraase let the three leaders hold the screen in a long, non -Sor, best -to -study approach with their expressions and emotions with them. In a subgenre with such obsession obsession, Song has not only slowly eliminated the character’s defenses, but has fabricated a story specifically designed to challenge social norms without turning to amrigism or triteness and “Hal Bass” or “she’s all.”

The most inverted way of doing this lies when casting Song. Johnson, Pascal, and Evans have all grown to prominence largely based on their natural charisma and physical attraction; For wit, all three have either been involved in a large superhero film franchise or about to be part of a superhero film franchise. And yet, Song wants to remind us that these are also three talented actors, the types that they do not always get material that are allowed to chew on in their other films. There is something refreshing from old Hollywood about Pascal’s extinction, Under Everman Evans, and the ready vulnerability of Johnson, so much that it is not difficult to see people like Gregory Peck, Jimmy Stewart, and Lana Turner in the roles if this had been made 80 years ago. Similarly “materialists” feel like a knowledgeable homage to ROM-COMS of the ’90s and’ 00s, he has a general retro charm for him, all in feeling completely modern.

The second feature of a filmmaker is a key one, as it is usually a demonstration that their retiring work was not a fluke. “Materialists” not only experiences a Song beat for filmmaking, he identifies it as a fully blown auteur, someone who has no signature style but also has much to say with their movies. Taken in its entirety, “materialists” do not look nostalgic back on the ROM-Com, and is not satire from the genre, Arthouse update, or any of the above. Instead, it is a real and honest attempt on Song to celebrate the Subgenre without supporting his frivolous trends. At one point in the film, Lucy motivates one of his Beaus who rejects their discussion of love and relationships, asking them if they think they are only “just a girl S – T” or what the subject is. For Lucy – and for a song – these topics and themes can certainly be fun and flying, but they can also be authentic and serious, and there should be no difference about that, sex or otherwise.

Thanks to Song’s artistic conviction, “materialists” feel like a breath of fresh air, to the ROM-com and cinema in general. Where so many ROM-COMS of the past feels that they have closed to demographics that they were not trying to target, “materialists” is a film in which I see a lot of myself, and I suspect that a large number of others will see their reflections in it too, whether or not they share life experience with the characters. There is a little quiet courage to the film in its commitment to depth for trying to appeal naked to others, and that is a quality that makes any person – and any film – more pleasant. So, I will follow the courage of the film by admitting, here and now, that I am in love with him.

Film score: 9 out of 10

“Materialists” opens in theaters on June 13, 2025.