Materialists Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Materialists Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 14, 2025

Here's a little quiz for you: say you knew nothing about Materialists other than that it fits generally if rather fitfully within the rom com genre and deals (again, more or less) with a perceived ménage à trois. Without troubling yourself with a cast list or any other information, if you were further offered a salient piece of information that the focal female has to choose between a new, upscale and seemingly "perfect" well off man and her financially troubled, emotionally uneven former boyfriend with whom she had a once magical relationship, whom do you think she'll end up with? If the overall "arc" of Materialists is therefore a given from the get go, this sophomore effort from Past Lives auteur Cecile Song doesn't experience so much of a "slump" as a kind of static, predictable flatline quality that might inherently suggest a production is DOA. There are some moribund moments here, but things are generally quite appealing on a surface level if never really managing to delve into some of the deeper emphases in Song's previous film, despite obvious attempts to do just that. And in fact it's a kind of both tonal and narrative imbalance that tends to keep Materialists from completely resonating. In that regard, it's probably notable to contrast how the film begins with what then ensues.

Speaking of "past lives", Song offers cheeky bookending vignettes documenting courting rituals in caveman (and cavewoman) times, something that probably instantly gives this outing a whimsical but arguably too silly feeling. Once things segue to contemporary times, there's an almost sitcom- esque ambience as we meet professional matchmaker Lucy Mason (Dakota Johnson). In completely predictable fashion, Lucy is an ace at arranging relationships for others, but is a disaster when it comes to herself, this despite having provided herself with a "checklist" to identify an appropriate prospective partner. When she meets cute with upscale Harry Castillo (Pedro Pascal) at a wedding no less, her "requirements" seem to have been fulfilled in one very good looking and successful man. And then suddenly their waiter turns out to be Lucy's ex John Pitts (Chris Evans), a guy whose surname being plural eliminates any comparison to Brad, even if John wants to be an actor. It's all relentlessly rote in a way, and even Song's smart writing can't completely extricate the film from the pretentiousness of the setup.

What's kind of fascinating, then, especially when comparing this film's ultimate relative shallowness when compared to Song's first film, is that Song was evidently a matchmaker herself in a "past life", and based part of what happens to Lucy on her own experiences. That would seem to be pretty much completely at odds with an artifical sensibility suffusing the film, where even downtrodden unsuccessful actors look like Chris Evans and where the two other focal characters are living large. There's still a sincerity to the performances and Song's writing can at least occasionally hint at something deeper than surface pleasures, but Materialists would have done better to either go all in for a rom com tone or concentrated more on the supposedly more serious deconstruction of relationships that Song seems to be aiming for.

Materialists Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Materialists is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of A24 with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The closing credits list Kodak film, and the IMDb further specifies a 4K DI followed. This has a really appealing organic quality and detail levels are generally commendable throughout the presentation, but I found the color timing, which I assume was intentional, to be a bit weirdly skewed to a kind of combo platter of sepia and peach tones, something that can make things seem a little dowdy and on the brown side. That one perhaps personal preference aside, the transfer offers really nice fine detail in close-ups and even some midrange framings, and there are no compression issues to overcome.

Materialists Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Materialists features a Dolby Atmos track that does offer consistent surround activity but is nonetheless not especially "showy" in delivering that engagement. Instead, there's clear use of all of the surround speakers in both some of the outdoor material as well as some crowd scenes, as in an early office celebration with Lucy or, later, the wedding where she meets Harry. An enjoyable score and some fun source cues also are well splayed throughout the side and rear channels. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available.

Materialists Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Filmmaker Commentary with Writer-Director Celine Song


• The Math of Modern Love: Making Materialists (HD; 16:46) offers a lot of self congratulatory comments from the cast and crew.


• Composer Deep Dive with Japanese Breakfast (HD; 10:56) looks at how they wrote their song for the film, which some may argue can't hold a candle to the tune that inspired it, the hilarious John Prine outing In Spite of Ourselves, which plays under the closing credits.

This comes in A24's standard DigiPack, with art cards inside the sleeve.

Materialists Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A film that begins with a sweet if inherently silly look at antediluvian mating rituals seemingly sets this film up to be a, well, sweet and inherently silly rom com, and Song might have been better advised to have hewed much more closely to that introductory tone. I rather liked Past Lives, even if I frankly didn't find it to be the unabashed masterpiece many others did, but I was more confused than anything by the variant tones and narrative choices Song employs in Materialists. Performances are quite winning, though, and technical merits are solid for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.