This year, I have devoted more time than ever to the world of film, making it my mission to watch as many new (and old) movies as possible. I’ve spent hours in the cinema, scrolling through the various streaming apps and working my way through an ever-growing watchlist. And it has been pretty successful, with many highlights that deserve to have some light shed on them, as well as the big hitters everyone has been talking about. However, one film has stood out as my favourite for a variety of reasons.

Firstly, I am a sucker for a romantic comedy, and those have been lacking in the film department in recent years. What once was an abundant genre with more love stories than you can count to choose from has become a somewhat overlooked area of film. But not anymore. Following the release of Celine Song’s second feature-length film, I have fallen back in love with the genre. After her debut picture, Past Lives, was one of my favourite films of 2023, I was very excited to watch Materialists. I watched the film more than a month ago, and it has stayed with me ever since.

Materialists was released earlier this year and it is an American romantic comedy film both written and directed by Song. The film stars Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans, alongside Zoë Winters, Marin Ireland and Louisa Jacobson in supporting roles. Pascal is one of my favourite actors and I had been hoping to see him in a role similar to this for a while. He was very natural in the role and had great chemistry with Johnson.

The film is set against the backdrop of New York City’s luxury-driven dating culture, (I love anything set in New York) and it follows a love triangle between a matchmaker, her aspiring actor ex-boyfriend and a charming millionaire.

I absolutely adored this film, it felt like the most accurate depiction of modern day dating that I had seen in a while, mixed with the classic rom-com moments that I have been missing as of late. It left me thinking a lot about modern dating and I was appreciative that the film portrayed the scene with grit, rawness and reality despite the fact that (spolier alert) it has a typical happy ending.

Materialists felt innovative, charming and really quite thoughtful, if you want to watch modern day romanticism that doesn’t feel toxic, give it a go.

Materialists is out in cinemas now.