The rom-com genre is alive and well, as several excellent titles have hit theaters or streaming in recent years. One of the newest additions to the genre is Celine Song’s Materialists, which opens in June. The film sees Dakota Johnson play a matchmaker who’s torn between a wealthy man (played by Pedro Pascal) and her ex (played by Chris Evans), who’s trying to make ends meet. Ahead of their 2025 movie release, Johnson and Pascal argued as to why the rom-com genre isn’t “silly,” and I totally agree with their thoughts.
When the three aforementioned stars of Materialists were interviewed by Fandango, they were told that Celine Song wanted to approach the rom-com genre seriously. The filmmaker felt that previous films of the genre were treated as “fluff.” This led Dakota Johnson to share that she never felt rom-coms were “silly,” and she noted just how relatable they can be:
It’s not a silly genre, and I think that the term romantic comedy or rom-com has been made less important or less serious, but it’s for everyone. Everyone can relate to wanting love or being loved or losing love or dreaming or lacking, whatever it is. And it just makes you feel nice.
Dakota Johnson’s response is spot on. I’m probably not the only one who remembers when people would call rom-coms “chick flicks,” which I always found demeaning. Like the Fifty Shades of Grey actress said, there are many people who can relate to the idea of finding love and losing it or dreaming about love. Concepts like that shouldn’t be seen as “silly.” If anything, these movies tell very human stories that resonate with the masses.
Celine Song’s directorial debut, Past Lives, which is about unrequited love, shows the messiness that can result when two people who were together at one point in their lives find themselves on different paths years later. Despite having moved on, the two main characters still asked themselves, “What if?” Pedro Pascal perfectly discussed the “high-stakes” that can come with love and the importance of portraying that on the big screen:
And the stakes are really high. Love is really [a] high-stakes game. So I love that played out in a movie, especially if its visual authorship is under someone like Celine Song, and that’s something that really, really deserves to be seen on the big screen.
I couldn’t agree with this more. The trailer for Materialists may give the impression that the upcoming movie is a standard rom-com. However, I have a feeling that under Celine Song’s direction, it’ll be so much more than that. Considering Song’s past experience as a matchmaker, she can speak to the subject matter and, as a smart screenwriter, I’ll think she’ll avoid typical genre conventions. Maybe this upcoming A24 movie won’t be about the importance of who the protagonist ends up choosing but about listening to her own values in a material world compared to what’s societally “perfect.”
The rom-com genre doesn’t get credit where it’s due in my humble opinion. While films like Silver Linings Playbook and Crazy Rich Asians have received praise in recent years, it feels as though some people still look down on those kinds of films. As for the exact reasoning for that, it’s hard to say.
In 2023, though, Anyone but You struck box office gold, with an over $200 million global haul. The Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell-led film didn’t fare well with critics, but it did seem to indicate that general audiences have a hunger for rom-coms.
Anyone who’s on the fence about the value of romantic comedies should really consider Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal’s sentiments. Yes, rom-coms can be silly and corny, but they’re also capable of portraying real-life experiences and conveying deep themes. That’s what I’m hoping to see from Materialists when it opens in theaters on June 13th.
