{"id":4564,"date":"2025-09-14T06:43:51","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T06:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ashokkarania.com\/?p=4564"},"modified":"2025-09-14T06:43:51","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T06:43:51","slug":"the-materialist-the-business-of-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/the-materialist-the-business-of-love\/","title":{"rendered":"The Materialist: The Business of Love"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>The Materialist: The Business of Love<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First things first: Celine Song\u2019s <em>The Materialist<\/em> doesn\u2019t quite reach the quiet brilliance of her debut, the magnificent <em>Past Lives<\/em>. Yet, it\u2019s still a relationship drama worth your time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dakota Johnson (yes, of <em>50 Shades<\/em> fame) shines as Lucy, an upmarket New York City matchmaker for the rich and privileged. She approaches romance like an M&amp;A deal, quipping, <em>\u201cMarriage is a business deal and it always has been.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her carefully constructed world collides when she meets Harry (Pedro Pascal) \u2014 a charming private equity prince with a $12 million penthouse and impeccable style \u2014 at a client\u2019s wedding. At the same event, Lucy\u2019s past resurfaces in the form of John (Chris Evans), her struggling-actor ex who\u2019s working as a waiter. Their breakup years ago, heartbreakingly, was over a parking fee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Celine frames Lucy\u2019s dilemma in modern Jane Austen fashion: should she choose the wealthy, flawless suitor or the imperfect, impoverished man who once held her heart? Classic setup, updated for Manhattan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The film is peppered with witty (and often depressing) \u201cwish lists\u201d from Lucy\u2019s elite clients \u2014 a satirical mirror of transactional love. A side plot also hints at the risks of modern dating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Song still delivers memorable moments:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Lucy admitting she left John not for incompatibility, but for his poverty.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lucy seduced by Harry\u2019s luxurious lifestyle, yet starved of intimacy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lucy and Harry, seemingly the perfect match, inevitably drifting apart.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dakota Johnson gives a grounded, honest performance. Pedro Pascal oozes charm, while Chris Evans taps into raw vulnerability. The film itself, though, is uneven. The screenplay meanders, and the writing never fully soars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, Celine\u2019s words resonate: <em>\u201cLove is the greatest mystery in everyone\u2019s lives, and therefore one of the most important themes in cinema.\u201d<\/em> Couldn\u2019t agree more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\ud83d\udca1 <em>The Materialist<\/em> may not be flawless, but it\u2019s a smart, satirical look at the math of love in a material world \u2014 and a worthy weekend watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">#TheMaterialist #Netflix #WeekendWatch #Romance #RomCom #DakotaJohnson #ChrisEvans #PedroPascal<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Materialist: The Business of Love First things first: Celine Song\u2019s The Materialist doesn\u2019t quite reach the quiet brilliance of her debut, the magnificent Past Lives. Yet, it\u2019s still a relationship drama worth your time. Dakota Johnson (yes, of 50 Shades fame) shines as Lucy, an upmarket New York City matchmaker for the rich and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[725,945,1112,1184,1193,1453,1454],"class_list":["post-4564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies","tag-hollywood","tag-love-story","tag-movies","tag-netflix","tag-new-releases","tag-romance","tag-romcom"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}