No, your ears are not deceiving you. That is indeed an omniscient narrator voice, unexpectedly barging into the trailer for the A24 romantic comedy in the first three seconds, to intone “In the world of matchmaking … no one plays the game better than Lucy.”
Romantic comedy trailer voiceover? In 2025? With an opening phrase that is almost “IN A WORLD…”? Just what decade is this? We have to assume that these are very intentional choices, and that the boutique indie studio is having some fun in the marketing for Song’s follow-up to the bittersweet, critically acclaimed Past Lives by casting Materialists in the guise of an old school, ’90s romantic comedy. Or maybe this is just a film out of time, arriving like it was dropped from the sky out of 1998? Its premise is certainly enough of a throwback as well.
Materialists stars Madame Web Pepsi can-fiddler Dakota Johnson as the aforementioned superstar matchmaker, who is of course more unlucky with her own forays into the world of love. That is, until she meets a unicorn in the form of Harry (Pedro Pascal), a wealthy older man who is seemingly ready to sweep her off her feet and give her all the security she could ever want. But ah, things can’t be that easy–Lucy also has to deal with her old flame John (Chris Evans) reentering the picture, no doubt insinuating himself into her storybook romance. Who will she choose? The younger guy with the tousled hair and the roommates? Or the slightly older man who’s a bit shorter than Chris Evans? This being written and directed by Song, we’re hoping that there’s another layer of complexity here that the marketing for Materialists isn’t really highlighting, but you have to at least chortle at the full-blown retro trailer conventions on display here.
Materialists is, at the very least, a welcome return for the A-lister starring romantic comedy as a genre in theaters, where it will be released on June 13, 2025. Check out the notably old-timey trailer, with its Madonna accompaniment, below.
