Last week, A24 released a new movie called Materialists starring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal and directed by Celine Song. Critical praise was high, but audience reaction was… it’s probably fair to say mixed. Common wisdom here is that this is largely because the film was marketed as a modern romcom and when people went to see it they got… not exactly that. Well, or did they? Mav and Hannah both saw it and loved it, but admit that it isn’t exactly a classic romcom. But that leads us to the question… what exactly is a romcom anyway? And can a lot of stuff count that we don’t normally think of? We always love analyzing genre on this show, so that’s what we’re gonna do as Hannah and Mav are joined by Monica to deconstruct the romcom and talk about why we actually think that a lot of non-obvious choices are actually quite innovative.
Citations and Links:
- “What Is CinemaScore? (And What Does It Mean)” by Dan Murrell for Fandom Entertainment
- “Romantic Gesture: Celine Song on the love stories, hand acting and movie kisses that shaped Materialists” by Mia Lee Vicino
- Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme
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- Follow Mav on BlueSky: @chrismaverick
- Follow Monica on Instagram: @monicamarvelous
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