"Materialists," "Too Much," and the Modern Rom-Com

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Run-Through with Vogue Episode: "Materialists," "Too Much," and the Modern Rom-Com
Release Date: August 15, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of The Run-Through with Vogue, hosts Chioma Nnadi and Chloe Malle delve into the evolving landscape of romantic comedies (rom-coms) by featuring a comprehensive discussion from the New Yorker's podcast, Critics at Large. The focus centers on two contemporary entries in the genre: Celine Song's film "Materialist" and Lena Dunham's Netflix series "Too Much." The conversation explores how these works attempt to redefine the rom-com for the modern era, addressing shifts in cultural norms, gender dynamics, and audience expectations.

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The State of the Rom-Com in 2025

Vincent Cunningham initiates the dialogue by questioning the current status of rom-coms, noting, "We're gathered here today to discuss... the state of the rom com." He observes that while romantic comedies were once box office mainstays, they've recently become platforms for experimentation rather than mainstream hits.

Chloe sets the stage by highlighting the cyclical nature of the genre:

[02:34] Chloe: "We’re in yet another cycle of 'Is the rom com dead? Long live the rom com.'"

Noemi Fry adds that the rise of tentpole intellectual properties has pushed rom-coms into a more indie and experimental space:

[02:34] Noemi Fry: "The rom com has weirdly become kind of, if not actually indie, then a place for potential experimentation."

Alex Schwartz echoes this sentiment, acknowledging the persistent interest in rom-coms despite their fluctuating mainstream appeal:

[02:34] Alex Schwartz: "But if it's dead, people still keep wanting to make them, to watch them, to discuss them."

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Defining Elements of a Romantic Comedy

The panel breaks down the essential components that make a successful rom-com:

1. Balance Between Fantasy and Reality:
   Noemi Fry emphasizes the importance of blending relatable elements with aspirational aspects:

   [04:52] Noemi Fry: "It should be a pleasing balance between fantasy and reality. It should be, to an extent, relatable... but it has to reach for the stars in some way."

2. Chemistry and Comedy:
   Alex Schwartz underscores the necessity of genuine chemistry and effective humor:

   [06:27] Alex Schwartz: "And the comedy element, it does have to be funny. And that can actually be a harder note to strike. Comedy's hard."

3. Character Growth and Self-Knowledge:
   The discussion highlights that beyond love, rom-coms often depict a journey of self-discovery:

   [13:42] Alex Schwartz: "The ideal rom com is also a journey to self-knowledge. It’s not just about your perfect wish fulfillment... you have to learn something about yourself."

Vincent Cunningham adds that obstacles and conflicts are crucial for narrative tension:

[06:55] Vincent Cunningham: "There has to be a moment when all seems impossible... and I wanna see them climb that hill back into plausibility."

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Analyzing "Materialist" by Celine Song

Noemi Fry provides a synopsis of "Materialist", starring Dakota Johnson as Lucy, a matchmaker who views marriage as a business proposition. The plot thickens when Lucy meets Harry (Pedro Pascal), an ideal match, and John (Chris Evans), her financially struggling ex-boyfriend.

Noemi Fry critiques the film's portrayal of calculated relationships:

[20:21] Noemi Fry: "The soporific vibe... was trying, I think, to make a point about this kind of world that amounts to math."

In contrast, Alex Schwartz appreciates the film's satirical take on materialism in romance:

[19:45] Alex Schwartz: "I have so much to say about this movie... it foregrounded these materialistic aspects and made them the total focus and part of the comedy of the movie."

They debate whether "Materialist" successfully balances cynicism with the potential for warmth, questioning if it still fits within the rom-com framework or veers into romantic thriller territory.

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Examining "Too Much" by Lena Dunham

The conversation shifts to Lena Dunham's Netflix series "Too Much," featuring Megan Stalter as Jessica, a young woman navigating a new romance in London after a bad breakup.

Alex Schwartz contrasts Jessica's brash personality with Lucy from "Materialist":

[29:48] Alex Schwartz: "The Jessica character is like this fat woman and he's just sort of like this conventionally handsome guy... Jessica is going to be the too much of the title. She is going to be as much herself as possible."

Noemi Fry highlights the series' exploration of modern relationship dynamics:

[32:32] Noemi Fry: "Jessica... has these dreams, these fantasies based on watching exactly these rom coms, is coming to this new city imagining that she might find her kind of British lover."

The panel discusses how "Too Much" challenges traditional rom-com tropes by presenting a protagonist who is unapologetically complex and relationships that defy straightforward resolutions.

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Gender Dynamics and Cultural Reflections

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around how contemporary rom-coms reflect and critique modern gender roles and societal expectations.

Alex Schwartz introduces a theory on the evolution of women's roles in rom-coms:

[40:26] Alex Schwartz: "The rom com... gets its lifeblood from reflecting back women's circumstances in this realistic but also idealized way."

Vincent Cunningham connects "Materialist" to broader cultural movements, suggesting it mirrors the influence of the manosphere and societal pressures on masculinity:

[50:09] Vincent Cunningham: "... the idea of a 'high value man, tall, rich, whatever.'"

Noemi Fry correlates "Too Much" with the shifting dynamics of masculinity, presenting a contrast between traditional and modern male archetypes:

[46:25] Noemi Fry: "Felix... has had this dark relationship to drugs and alcohol. He's now sober and kind of trying to stand the straight and narrow."

The hosts explore how these narratives address the crisis in defining modern masculinity and the implications for heterosexual relationships within the rom-com genre.

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Concluding Insights

The episode wraps up with reflections on the potential future of rom-coms and their role in navigating complex emotional and societal landscapes.

Alex Schwartz expresses hope for the genre's ability to balance reality with romantic idealism:

[52:07] Alex Schwartz: "The rom com has a kind of like a political radicalness to it... that's between the fairy tale and the utter Hobbesian."

Vincent Cunningham and Noemi Fry concur that contemporary rom-coms like "Materialist" and "Too Much" are pushing the boundaries of the genre, making it a fertile ground for exploring nuanced relationships and societal shifts.

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Notable Quotes

• Noemi Fry:

  [04:52] "It should be a pleasing balance between fantasy and reality..."

• Alex Schwartz:

  [06:27] "The comedy element... can actually be a harder note to strike."

• Vincent Cunningham:

  [50:09] "One of the refrains of materialists is this idea of the 'high value man.'"

• Alex Schwartz:

  [52:07] "The rom com has a kind of like a political radicalness to it..."

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Conclusion

This episode of The Run-Through with Vogue offers an in-depth analysis of the current state and future trajectory of romantic comedies. By examining "Materialist" and "Too Much," the hosts shed light on how the genre is adapting to contemporary issues around materialism, gender roles, and the quest for meaningful relationships. The conversation underscores the rom-com's enduring relevance and its capacity to both entertain and provoke thoughtful discourse on love and society.

Transcript

[Chloe]

Hi, everyone. Chloe. Here. Today, we wanted to share a great conversation by our wonderful colleagues from the New Yorker's podcast, Critics at Large. Every week, staff writers Vincent Cunningham, Noemi Fry, and Alexander Schwartz pull up chairs at the Critics Roundtable to dive into the latest pop culture obsessions across books, film, tv and more. Since we recently had Celine song on our show, we thought you'd love this episode. Materialists Too Much and the Modern Rom Com. In the episode, you'll hear the critics unpack the ever evolving world of romantic comedies. How the genre has shifted, what's driving its resurgence, and why we're still hooked on stories of love. Stay tuned for the full conversation, and if you enjoy it, be sure to follow the New Yorker's Critics at Large wherever you listen to podcasts.

[Alex Schwartz]

Welcome to Critics at Large, a podcast from the New Yorker. I'm Alex Schwartz.

[Noemi Fry]

I'm Nomi Fry.

[Vincent Cunningham]

I'm Vincent Cunningham. Each week on this show, we make sense of what's happening in the culture right now and how we got here. How are you guys?

[Alex Schwartz]

Good. Doing great.

[Noemi Fry]

Good. Glad to be back after a week off for our country's holiday.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Our country's holiday.

[Noemi Fry]

It is what it is.

[Alex Schwartz]

How are you, Vincent?

[Vincent Cunningham]

I'm great. And I'm excited to celebrate a better holiday because, friends, we're gathered here today to discuss. To celebrate the state of the rom com. That's right, the romantic comedy. They used to be a staple at the box office. And even though that's not really the case anymore, there has been a trend in the last, I don't know, five, ten years of trying to reimagine the rom com for today, whatever that means, and by whatever means possible. We're gonna dig into this a little bit more later in the episode, but let's give the listeners a little teaser. What do we think's going on with the rom com in 2025?

[Noemi Fry]

Well, the ROM com, as you said, Vincent, used to be like a mega commercial proposition, right? But I think with the advent of the tentpole IP type movie as kind of the only commercial proposition in town, the rom com has weirdly become kind of, if not actually indie, then a place for potential experimentation.

[Alex Schwartz]

You know, we're in yet another cycle of Is the rom com dead? Long live the rom com. I think we've been here before a few times. We're back again in 2025, but. But if it's dead, people still keep wanting to make them, to watch them, to discuss them. But it's true that it doesn't have the kind of mainstream cultural purchase that it used to have, for sure.

[Vincent Cunningham]

And to your point about the cyclical nature of the rom com and its life and death, this is not the first time that we've talked about this and tried to explore the state of the rom com. Way back on Valentine's Day 2023. Can you believe it? Were we ever so young? The New Yorker published a roundtable discussion where we talked about movies like Bros, you people and Shotgun Wedding.

[Noemi Fry]

Do you remember anything starring Josh Duhamel and J. Lo?

[Vincent Cunningham]

There you go.

[Alex Schwartz]

It took me so long into rereading that to remember what Shotgun Wedding was. The abyss. That was the film. You people did come more readily back to me, But Shotgun Wedding was truly forgettable and that I forgot all about it.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Yeah, that's what. Sometimes that's what it's for as well.

[Alex Schwartz]

I mean, we're here because there are these two new properties that we were curious to discuss. Celine Song's movie Materialists, which is being billed as the return of the rom com, and Lena Dunham's Netflix show Too Much. We have these two women who are saying, I love the genre. I want to reclaim the genre. And we are going to talk about if they have.

[Vincent Cunningham]

So today we're going to be talking about our favorite rom coms from the screwball era through the 90s, and we're also going to be considering these new entries into the genre. And the question I want us to consider is, is there anything new for the rom com to do? That's today on critics at large, our Will they, won't they with the rom com? So as we mentioned, we're gonna get into materialists. We're gonna get into too much, but maybe it bears laying some groundwork. What are some must have elements, Alex and Nomi, of a romantic comedy. What are we looking for? Just to begin with, I think there.

[Noemi Fry]

Should be a pleasing balance between fantasy and reality. It should be, to an extent, relatable the plot and the characters, but it has to reach for the stars in some way. Like, it has to have some element of wish fulfillment. And that equilibrium is hard to get, but when it's achieved, it's perfect. I'm thinking about, like, Pretty Woman, for instance, which is of course completely fantastical, but has a kind of core of subjective relatability, like in its characters.

[Alex Schwartz]

All right, I have a radical answer. Here's what needs to be in a romantic comedy.

[Noemi Fry]

Full penetration.

[Alex Schwartz]

I actually myself do prefer a little sheet Russell, although, you know, I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of it. No, I'm gonna say romance and comedy, and you're all gonna say, well, that's obvious. But. But you know what? Those qualities are often sorely lacking by romance, I mean just that little hopefulness. Oh, the hope, that little inner shimmy that you wanna see someone undergoing, that you wanna feel yourself. And for me, that does have everything to do with, if you can. Noemi, you're talking about relatability. There is a kind of fantasy and a romantic fantasy about who you could be, like playing yourself into the film. That is almost more important than the romantic partner. And then the comedy element, it does have to be funny. And that can actually be a harder note to strike. Comedy's hard.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Comedy's famously hard. Yeah, it's impossible. I just think, and this is just straight up rudiments of storytelling. The reason the speech has to happen is that there has to be a moment when all seems impossible. I judge it by, like, how good is the moment when whatever it is, somebody's been caught lying, somebody's done some sort of betrayal where it's over. And I wanna see them climb that hill back into plausibility.

[Alex Schwartz]

You love an obstacle.

[Vincent Cunningham]

And it's weird because in other forms of storytelling, I kind of don't like that. I'm like, not as invested in that kind of vertiginous plot. But in the rom com, for some reason, I do like it.

[Noemi Fry]

Yeah.

[Vincent Cunningham]

What's on the Mount Rushmore, then? So, like, based on these criteria and many more, There are many more criteria that we could name. What then rises to the top?

[Noemi Fry]

Well, this is not the first time that I've sung this tune on this show. Let the River Run.

[Alex Schwartz]

There she goes. There she goes. She'll take any opportunity, Any opportunity.

[Noemi Fry]

Working Girl, my friends, Mike Nichols. Working Girl, starring Melanie Griffith and Harrison Ford. About a woman's search for love, but not just love. In the kind of tradition of, like, 1980s feminism, love and professional fulfillment. I have a head for business and a pod for sin. Is there anything wrong with that?

[Vincent Cunningham]

No. No.

[Noemi Fry]

And it's a great example of a complete wish fulfillment movie where career does not negate love, but in fact, complements it in an incredibly satisfying way.

[Alex Schwartz]

She can have it all.

[Noemi Fry]

She can have it all. Exactly.

[Alex Schwartz]

And she can be it all. I mean, it's such a great movie and it is so fascinating because it has to do. I mean, I have a whole argument that I just can't wait to trot out at some point in this episode about the condition of women in the 20th century and how it Directly tracks onto the rom com, another New York movie. New York is such a place in the rom com world because of this kind of, I think, striving woman who we know, me and I relate to. Surprise. You've Got Mail is a perfect film. It's a perfect film and it's reception history. Eyes were rolled. And now everyone is regretting those roles because.

[Noemi Fry]

Because now we love Barnes and Noble.

[Alex Schwartz]

Because first of all, Barnes and Noble, the enemy in that movie in the guise of Fox Books, right? The megastore that's gonna put out Barnes and Noble.

[Noemi Fry]

Now it's like a mom and pop shop. My goodness.

[Alex Schwartz]

Barnes and Noble is our last hope.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Like a little shoemaking atelier.

[Alex Schwartz]

Exactly. But more to the point, so you got Meal is a perfect movie. It starts with the trope we were discussing in our romantasy episode from a few months ago, Enemies to lovers. And it's a clash all the way. Until some, okay, fairly questionable stuff involving manipulation but all for the good goes down and they befriend one another and accept life. But here's why I love this movie. I love this movie because of Meg Ryan, who is utterly pitch perfect, as she's exactly the right degree of frazzled. Why did you stop by again? I forget. She's utterly functional and loving and adorable and wears her heart on her sleeve, but she also is, like, totally who she is in the way that she was in those Nora Ephron movies. Also in When Harry Met Sally, another total great. And so you're rooting for her. You're rooting for the good side of him that could potentially, potentially come out. And this is, of course, the other fantasy in romantic comedy. The man is transformed by his love of a good woman.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Oh, yeah.

[Alex Schwartz]

Like he is this you know, little shriveled, souled vorce who just wants to make money and hang out on his houseboat in the Hudson river, right? Who's transformed.

[Vincent Cunningham]

I always go back and forth about my favorite rom com. It's often love and basketball. Omar Epps, Sanaa Lathan. Sanaa Lathan is also in another one of my favorite rom coms, which is it's a hybrid comedy, drama, ensemble piece, but romance is really at its core. It's called the Best man, and essentially it's about a group of friends. This, for me, is classic, really. It's about a wedding. It's the lead up to the wedding of two of the friends. And it is learned because one of the friends, played by Taye Diggs, is a writer and he has written a novel and it's found out by the character that's played by Morris Chestnut, who's getting married that way back in college. There was a betrayal. Mia slept with your best man. And what ensues is a drama of betrayal, including Taye Diggs potentially cheating on his girlfriend, played by Sanaa Lathan. Ooh, that should never have happened to you. For me, the Best man is the great text of a kind of black Gen X sensibility. They're kind of like. They have. There's incense and people are playing the guitar. And it's like, sexy in a way that I want it to be. It came out in 1999 and it's directed by Mal, who has continued to create these movies. But for me, one of the good things about a ROM com is that it can introduce you to a whole milieu and a whole kind of social stratum to which you can sort of aspire to live in.

[Noemi Fry]

Yeah, I mean, that makes me think of another point, Vincent. The idea of kind of aspirationality. And when the ROM com catches you in your own life. Like, when are you watching this? Like, in my early teen years, you know, like when watching these classic rom coms, when I was myself on the verge of entering into the romance plot. Right. Or like the sex plot, I guess. And having these movies transmit to me what to look for. Like, what are the values that I would myself want to adopt as like, a person who is seeking her own love connection.

[Vincent Cunningham]

That's right.

[Alex Schwartz]

I love that you're saying that because I do think that in some rom coms, in some of the great ones, that issue is itself dramatized. What kind of life do I want to live? And your expectations around it or the fantasies around it being actually defied in favor of something that is not at all what you thought would be your ideal? And that is so fun to watch, because the ideal rom com is also a journey to self knowledge. It's not just about your perfect wish fulfillment and you got exactly what you wanted. You have to learn something about yourself and have your expectations defied and come out realizing that you now know what love is because it caught you by surprise. That's where the magic is. And when there's chemistry between the leaves.

[Noemi Fry]

Chemistry.

[Alex Schwartz]

So that you believe it.

[Noemi Fry]

Yes.

[Alex Schwartz]

That's where the magic is.

[Noemi Fry]

Yes. Yes. And I wanna return once again to full penetration. Not because I actually think there should be full penetration in the ROM com.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Let's clarify.

[Noemi Fry]

Let's clarify. It was a joke. But the belief in the possibility of sex, because actual sex you know, the rom com is historically not an explicit genre. There is a hint of forthcoming sex. There should be in the good ones. There is attraction, you know, chemistry. The promise, the potential of sex needs to be there.

[Alex Schwartz]

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's. Look, I'm. I'm deep in the Nora Ephron thing, obviously. I know that's rather typical and not gonna shock anyone, but When Harry Met Sally, of course directed by Rob Reiner, but written by Nora Ephron, says sex ruins everything briefly before everything is made right again. And that is also such a great part of that movie because that's also realistic where, like, the wish fulfillment finally happens. And I just, I will never forget that. Kind of like, I know when she wakes up on Meg Ryan's face and he's like, oh, so happy. And he's just like, I cannot get out of here fast enough. Brilliant. Brilliant. You know, how are you gonna work your way back from that? Let's get to that third act and find out.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Let's find out. This summer, two projects are trying to take up the mantle of the modern rom com materialists and too much. How do they succeed or not in updating the genre? That's in a minute on critics at large from the New Yorker.

[Unknown]

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[Vincent Cunningham]

Okay, now it's time to get contemporary. Let's turn to the 2025 hopeful entries into the rom com canon. Do they make it in? Let's see. Let's start with Celine Song's Materialists. Would anyone like to offer us a synopsis?

[Noemi Fry]

I can try. So in Materialist, we have Lucy, played by Dakota Johnson. She is a matchmaker.

[Alex Schwartz]

How many marriages are you responsible for now, Lucy?

[Vincent Cunningham]

Nine.

[Noemi Fry]

She knows exactly what makes a relationship potentially work and what makes her so good at her job is that she is completely unsentimental. She sees marriage as a business proposition. It's math, as she says. When the movie opens, she is attending a wedding of one of her clients that she set up successfully. And two things happen in that wedding. First of all, she meets Harry, played by Pedro Pascal.

[Alex Schwartz]

You are what we call a unicorn, an impossible fantasy.

[Noemi Fry]

He is incredibly wealthy, he's very handsome, he's tall, he's urbane, he's stylish, he appears at least kind, and he's single. At the same time, as she's kind of flirting with Harry, she runs into John, her old boyfriend, played by Chris Evans, who she broke up with because he was broke. And so the movie is basically about this triangle. It's about Lucy trying to determine whether she should go with Harry, which, according to her principles, is the perfect match, or whether she should go back to John, who, according to her principles, is a complete dud.

[Vincent Cunningham]

That is 100% correct. Between the nailed it. The dashing, very eligible, viable Pedro Pascal and the dirtbag artist Chris Evans. Alex, did you like this movie?

[Alex Schwartz]

Oh, my God, I have so much to say about this movie.

[Noemi Fry]

Oh, my God, I can't wait to hear Alex's take.

[Alex Schwartz]

I have a feeling I'm going to be right in between Nomi and Vinson. I'm guessing. Don't tell me yet if I'm right. I'm guessing Vincent loved Nomi, hated. And here I am very confused in the middle. Okay, I'm seeing nods. So I think I'm onto something.

[Unknown]

Ok.

[Alex Schwartz]

I know my fellow critics, Nomi, don't feel slighted, don't feel slandered.

[Noemi Fry]

Not at all.

[Alex Schwartz]

I'm just going to say where I can.

[Noemi Fry]

I feel, in fact, seen and recognized.

[Alex Schwartz]

And that's love.

[Noemi Fry]

And that is love.

[Alex Schwartz]

Good.

[Noemi Fry]

But it's also hate.

[Alex Schwartz]

Well, it's my love for you.

[Noemi Fry]

Yes. It's my hate for the materialist.

[Alex Schwartz]

Got it.

[Noemi Fry]

No, no, no, no, no. It's not hate. I did not think it was a very good movie. I thought it was trying to do something interesting and there was things about it that I liked, but I felt it was completely. And I understand. I think that this was intentional in some ways. The soporific vibe of this movie, the complete kind of evenness of it in terms of dialogue, in terms of tonality, in terms of the characters being indistinguishable from each other in anything except obviously, like, appearance, was trying, I think, to make a point about this kind of world that amounts to math. Dakota Johnson, characters especially, she is unruffled, but unruffled to the extent where I was like, is she. Has she taken, like, seven Xanax bars before, you know, doing every scene that I was like, okay, I can see that this could be. Yes, again, a comment on, like, we're not talking about big emotion here. We're talking about calculation, right? We're talking about business. And so this is the way relationships between people are. She, you know, famously, and this has been talked about in stuff written about this movie up front, tells Harry, the Pedro Pascal character, when she first meets him. She's like, I make $80,000 a year, and I know you make much more. Basically. She comes to his beautiful Tribeca apartment the first time. She's like, how much is this place? He's like, it's $12 million. Right. The problem for me was that this, the same kind of soporific, like, Xanax vibe continued, like, from start to finish for me. But then that seemed to me to be at odds with the kind of, like, central conflict the movie was trying. The choice, which seemed the kind of the raison d' etre of this mov. Alex, what do you think?

[Alex Schwartz]

Well, I had a splendid time seeing this movie by myself, the chair next to me absolutely empty, laughing out loud, enjoying myself, laughing out loud. I was laughing out loud because what I liked very much about it, especially in the first half of the movie, and what I found refreshing was that it foregrounded these materialistic aspects and made them the Total focus and part of the comedy of the movie. Right up top. Like we were talking about Jane Austen a few weeks ago. This is a world in which everybody knows how much the eligible mate has per year and the material conditions of what that marriage will look like are everything to determining whether there's compatibility. And though we like to think we've moved so far from this world and we like to flatter ourselves that we care about such different things, I don't think that's right so much the case. And this is a very, like, harsh light shone on that. There's a really fun opening where it begins with a caveman couple and a scene of courtship that is both ridiculous and somewhat touching. And cuts to contemporary Manhattan where Dakota Johnson is click clacking around in her click clack heels. But you know what I like about it up front is you get these interviews between the Dakota Johnson character and her clients and you see that all of them, first of all, have this desperation around them. And I found the frank acknowledgement that worth and the acknowledgement of worth is what people are looking for in the dating market to be funny and to feel true. I didn't, you know, is it cynical? It's absolutely cynical. But part of the promise of the movie is that it's gonna break down that cynicism and get to the warmer crust underneath. So therefore, you have the Chris Evans character. And what got me there was it is for Lucy this choice between the past and the future. Chris Evans character is living. He's 37. He lives like he's 27. And I found that funny too. Like his horrible apartment with his gross roommates. You know, there's a wince of recognition from me. Like, if you're a woman, you've seen that apartment. Possibly if you're a man, it's not good. It's not a good feeling. And I found the truthfulness of that and the fact that she wouldn't want to go back there refreshing, and I enjoyed it. And I also admit to being absolutely fascinated by the affectlessness of Dakota Johnson.

[Noemi Fry]

Like, it's fascinating.

[Alex Schwartz]

It's fascinating in part because I think in Dakota Johnson you have a really capital A adult. She is living in her uncluttered apartment. She's making money for herself. She looks really great. She's focused on her endgame. She's adulting all the way. And that kind of character, I think has actually fallen out a bit of the rom com space and of someone.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Who actually has it together.

[Alex Schwartz]

Yeah, someone who actually has it together. Then of course, the problem becomes that there's nothing underneath that you don't understand. You don't see what the Chris Evans character is seeing in her. And the movie doesn't try to make you see it either. It just relies on the idea that they had a past together. It relies on him declaring his feelings for her inexplicably. And while she treats him quite badly, the inexplicability.

[Noemi Fry]

That's what I'm trying to say.

[Alex Schwartz]

So it did all fall apart, in my opinion. And my question for you guys and for the audience of this movie and for Celine song is, is there no middle ground? Whence the grown up? Where's the grownup man option? Who? Isn't this like, weird corporate I'm gonna take you only to sushi restaurants person or an absolute mess who I'm sorry, I can't respect?

[Vincent Cunningham]

Yeah, Well, I think part of that is the description of Dakota Johnson's character that you offered at the beginning, which is she's the middle ground. She is neither of those things. One of my favorite things about this film, and this is one of the reasons that you are totally right in profiling me, I loved it was in fact the performances, because Nomi's right. When we think about the rom com, we do think about relatability. And with relatability comes naturalism in acting. And this movie's like, nope, these people don't act like people. And the dual meaning, it seems to me of the title is like, yes, there's economic materialism, but there's also a kind of spiritual material. What if there's no great soul either? What if people aren't these bundle of wonderful qualities that are waiting to be awakened by love? Right. The self realization thing that you mentioned, Alex, what if that's not in play? Actually, it seemed to me to be a counterfactual exercise. What if we just are an accrual? Like, yes, we have histories, but we're not some great thing beneath the surface. And we. So the awkwardness of all the performances to me seemed to be part of a kind of mission statement, which I admired the commitment to it all through the film. I don't really think that we're supposed to think that she and Chris Evans are really some great all compatible. Like every single backstory shot is just of them. There's one where they get out of a car in the middle of the. What seems to be Times Square and they're just yelling at each other because of, you know, it's their anniversary and there's this shitty date and nothing that he does is good enough. He's not. It's not like he's poor, but thoughtful. It's not like he's poor, but particularly funny. Yeah, he's kind of nice to her, but that's.

[Alex Schwartz]

He's just poor.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Yeah, he's just poor.

[Noemi Fry]

Come on, you guys. He's a handsome guy and not even poor.

[Alex Schwartz]

He's a hot man.

[Vincent Cunningham]

He's a hot man. And so, by the way, is Pedro Pascal. And then there was a great big joke in the middle of the movie. I won't let it go. But he. He has done things to sort of enhance his viability, which calls into question even his sort of dashing exterior. But one thing I do want to highlight is that we won't spoil it. But there is, like, somewhere in the middle of this movie, we are reminded that beneath all dating is also the specter of violence. Right? And so this hope, this aspiration, is a great big risk that why are we taking it? It really does call the whole enterprise into question in a way that, again, I thought was brave, but also made me think maybe it's not a romantic comedy. It seemed to me to be just like a romantic thriller or horror movie that was marketed in this way because of it wants to subvert a thing. I don't know that this movie believes in love. That's what I like about it. This movie's like, no, we're all alone. I would like to talk about a story that does believe in love, a TV show called Too Much. It's written, produced, largely directed by now a seasoned entrant into this Melee, which is Lena Dunham. And it is about a young woman named Jessica, played by. For me, and I'll get into my take, the brilliant Megan Stalter, who has left New York after a disastrous breakup and moved to London and immediately, first through kind of a hookup at a bar, immediately finds herself in the throes of a new romance.

[Alex Schwartz]

I will add another drop into the cup by saying that the personality mix is kind of what this is all about. The Megan Stalter character, Jessica Salmon, is the too much of the title. She is going to say whatever comes to her mind as soon as it comes to her mind. She's the opposite in every way of who Dakota Johnson is in Materialists. She's going to be as much herself as possible. And that person is brassy loud out there, unafraid to look like a total mess, which she is at the start of the series. And her love object is, is this indie Musician Felix Rehman, who she meets at a pub. And he is much lower key. He's conventionally handsome, whereas. And this is something that the show, I think wonderfully does not emphasize, but it is part of the subtext. The Jessica character is like this fat woman and he's just sort of like this conventionally handsome guy and he has had this dark relationship to drugs and alcohol. He's now sober and kind of trying to stand the straight and narrow. But he is not part of grown up life. And she sort of is. She has a job, she's in London to be a producer on a Christmas ad. But he in many ways seems more grown up than she does, while on paper she's the one who's more grown up. And I think the series really works with that. Again, these questions of what is attraction? But also how does that translate into making a life together? And how do these sort of youthful questions of sex and love and infatuation lead into something more stable? I think that's at the heart of this series. Two.

[Noemi Fry]

Yeah. And one other thing that I think we should note is that this show was produced by Working Title, which is a production company that has worked on kind of the most famous British rom coms, you know, like Love actually and like Notting Hill and you know, that whole genre. And so. And the series itself plays with that. You know, Jessica as a kind of expat who's coming to London and has these dreams, these fantasies based on watching exactly these rom coms, is coming to this new city imagining that she might find her kind of British lover that answers certain kind of either Jane Austenian or kind of the contemporary version of that, ideas that she has in her mind about what makes a romance and. And what ends up happening. And this is kind of part of the restructuring of the whole idea of the rom com in the series is life happens in a different way than what she might fantasize about.

[Vincent Cunningham]

It's interesting though. And first of all, I mean, I am a big fan of Lena Dahlman's work. The first season of Girls, I think is just.

[Noemi Fry]

Well, yeah, I mean, nothing like that will ever be repeated.

[Vincent Cunningham]

It's just such a fastball. And I think she's done it again. I think she's done it again. It really is a show about a kind of life cycle of the most intense parts of romantic couplings, breakups and beginnings. Two things that are equally if different in Valence, equally kind of unbearable. The texting, the waiting, the rollercoaster of emotions that happens in the early Parts of a relationship that kind of make it impossible to. Jessica has come to work, to London, and she can barely even pay attention to work. There's a capsule episode where she stays up all night knowing that she's got important stuff to do, cannot do it, because they're talking, they're watching movies, they're having sex, can't focus on anything. And on the other hand, she's fixating on her breakup. Her ex, Zev, who's played by Michael Zegan, is in a relationship with a kind of influencer who's played by Emily Ratajkowski. And she's watching all of their videos, keeping a diary on a secret Instagram, which is directed toward this influencer, whose name is Wendy. And so this obsession, the horrible bits of love, I just thought it was great.

[Alex Schwartz]

I love what you say. And yet I have a question for you. And that question is, did you like the relationship at the heart of this? Did that work for you?

[Vincent Cunningham]

Do I like the relationship?

[Alex Schwartz]

Did that give you rom com? Y. Ooh, Will they or won't they? Or how's this gonna go well?

[Vincent Cunningham]

Cause it's like they get to. It's almost not that. Because they're so together at the beginning. And part of it is the absolute mania of the beginning of a relationship when you're not even sure if it's the right thing to do and you're spending probably too much time together. So I liked. I believed the relationship for sure. Um. Did I like it? No, I was harrowed by it.

[Noemi Fry]

You were harrowed by it.

[Alex Schwartz]

There you have it, folks.

[Vincent Cunningham]

It's harrowing.

[Alex Schwartz]

And there you have it, folks. It's harrowing. And I was.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Which I didn't mind.

[Noemi Fry]

Okay, so what were you harrowed by? Because apropos what you were saying, Alex, about, like, the. Will they or won't they? They will from the very beginning is the thing which I thought was very interesting and an interesting choice because once again, you know, we talked about materialists, and it's kind of like weird relationship to, like, is this even a rom com here in a different way? I think that's a question as well, because from the very beginning, it's like they move in together, essentially. I mean, not move in together. You know, it's like some of us are like this.

[Alex Schwartz]

They shock us. No, no, no.

[Noemi Fry]

I'm not saying it doesn't.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Serial relationship representation.

[Noemi Fry]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I'm not saying it doesn't happen. I'm just saying it's a particular choice to say, we're going in, we're meeting at the bar and we're moving it, you know, like it's, it's just a different type of thing.

[Alex Schwartz]

No, you're exactly right. They're meeting, they're fucking, they're spending all night talking. They're, you know, they're in each other's lives. But there's the bigger question of will these two very, very different people find compatibility and a kind of a stability together. And in one way, even beyond the way the show works, we know they will because this is a kind of a Romana Clay show. It's based on Lena Dunham's relationship with her now husband Louise Felber, who is her co creator on the show. And there are strong notes of her ex, Jack Antonoff in the ex who she leaves in New York, who is not a Jack Antonoff megaproducer, but is this kind of failing music writer who's really self serious and goes from this kind of love bomber character into this much darker, egomaniacal. Put her downer of Jess.

[Vincent Cunningham]

He's a putter downer.

[Alex Schwartz]

He's a real put her downer. So here's what I think about this show. I got very irritated by the Jess character. It's not a fact I'm proud of necessarily, but it's just what it is. She was too much for me for a while.

[Noemi Fry]

Yeah.

[Alex Schwartz]

Like I just felt like her expectations for the relationship were things that would serve her in every single particular. Finding someone who would kind of just be able to like accommodate her in every single way without having to move an inch in a direction towards accommodating the needs of this guy. And I've seen five episodes. I think there are 10 total.

[Noemi Fry]

There's 10. Yeah.

[Alex Schwartz]

So maybe that will change. But there's a lot of putting up with Jess and kind of the chillness of Felix. And to me I sort of started to feel like, you know, Lena Dunham specializes in these over the top female characters. That's what made Girls such a lightning rod of discussion, I think in a lot of ways. And I really admire her. And yet I felt this kind of self justifying note in some of this where and I don't know if this changes later in the series, but it just felt like a lot of taking a mile and giving no inches on the part of the character Jess. And where she really came alive to me was in this flashback episode about her first relationship. And I like that the show accommodates the space for that. This kind of anti rom com basically in this long episode where you have this super meet cute. They meet at a bar and he, like, her pizza has been taken and her friends have left and he just swoops in like a Prince Charming and he love bombs the hell out of her. She's the best. She's so great. And over time you just see, like a noose tightening and he starts withholding affection. He starts criticizing her body and her fashion choices. He just becomes cruel and cold and manipulative. And that talk about harrowing. Utterly harrowing. So that brings a lot of sympathy to the character. And I love what Lena Dunham did with that anti rom com format. The falling out of love and the realizing that you've been betrayed by love. I thought that was brilliant. I will absolutely keep watching this show. But at the moment I'm wondering, and maybe this has to do with materialists also. These are two totally. These are just like poles of straight womanhood that are the extremes. One is this, like, adult robot, like I am adulting, and the other. Adult robot. Yeah. And the other is this, like, absolute mess. Yeah. But like a child, like, needs a caretaker, insists on her independence, but actually insists on being taken care of at all times. And I'm looking for the one who accommodates both.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Mm. Romantic comedies have always reflected their era's gender dynamics. So what do these rom coms have to say about ours? That's in a minute on critics at large.

[Unknown]

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[Vincent Cunningham]

Alex, earlier you mentioned that you had a theory to unspool about the rom com and the changing fate of women in their lives. I would love to hear this take uncorked.

[Alex Schwartz]

You ready to unspool that thread?

[Vincent Cunningham]

Unspool, unfurl it. Unfurl to unfurl, cork. All different kinds of metaphors. I'm offering.

[Alex Schwartz]

I like it. Yeah. Well, so Nomi was talking earlier about this kind of like, projection onto these figures in the rom com and the need to project on. And I do think that the rom com really gets its lifeblood from reflecting back women's circumstances in this realistic but also idealized way, as Naomi was saying. And because the economic, the political and the domestic of women has changed utterly over the last, you know, hundred years. Just so happening. To coincide with the history of cinema itself. You know, we get this kind of track record of female fantasy of what life and love is. And I find that really interesting. So, like, you know, we have earlier rom coms. Like, I love the classic Tracy Hepburn rom coms. I don't know if that's big for you guys, but, like, those movies are sparkling and charming and hilarious and of course, chemistry up to the nines, you know, lifelong, semi secret relationship. Like, hello, there it is on screen. And like, so a classic example of that is the movie Adam's Rib, which was made in 1949, was directed by George Cuker and from screenplay written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin. And it's about married lawyers who oppose each other in court. And they oppose each other on the question of men and women's rights and relationships. And so you have this great view into a time when women had just, you know, been working during World War II, when the men were gone. Now they have been powered like never before, but they're on, as we know, the cusp of the regressive 1950s. And so you have Spencer Tracy as a prosecutor, Katharine Hepburn as a defense attorney. She is defending a woman who tried to kill her husband because he was having an affair. He is prosecuting that guy. And you get such comedic, like, friction, like no other of this couple going up against one another. But you also have real tension because this starts to eat into their own relationship and this kind of drives them apart before they come back together. So those are some really real issues getting worked out in the space of one very funny comic movie. And then, like, cutting ahead to the rom coms that Nomi and I love, like, in the 80s, everything has changed. Women, suddenly it's not taboo to pursue a career. There is the beginning of the having it all discourse, the, like, ruinous having it all discourse where there is this idea that you can wear your shoulder pads and perhaps have get higher up on the corporate ladder or have a career as a journalist, as Sally does. And When Harry Met Sally, even though we don't know very much about her career as a journalist, divorce is an option. So the rom com has to give you a relationship that first of all doesn't feel like it's just settling because we now know divorce is an option. It has to, like, sell that fantasy of the empowered women back to women. And when it does, like, we eat it up with a spoon. We totally do. Guilty as charged.

[Noemi Fry]

Yeah. Because what could be really more perfect? Yeah. Career fulfillment and love fulfillment.

[Alex Schwartz]

Yeah. And Someone who recognizes, you know, your value in both areas, basically. And now I feel like we're in a little bit. I wonder if the in rom coms has to do with a crisis in how adult women want to be or want to see themselves. Because again, these characters in Too Much and in Materialists are on total opposite poles to a point of extremity that I find instructive. And neither of them seems to me to be living a life that like, I like to think that the ideal romantic comedy heroine has a little bit of frazzle. Not too much like a little bit of relatable frazzle. And in Too Much it's all frazzle. And in Materialists it's absolutely zero frazzle. She is a straightened ponytail. Like that's what she is. So, you know, where are women wanting to see ourselves? And also where do men come into this equation?

[Vincent Cunningham]

Right. And is a little bit of frazzle, but everything's gonna be okay. Is that just the romantic expression of Clinton era political economy? Is that just the end of history? Because what's interesting about Materialist is the fact that you feel that certainly the Chris Evans character could fall off the end of the earth. And there is precarity such that there is kind of danger in it. You know, I don't want to do like any kind of rote identity politics, but it does seem to me interesting that Celine Song has created a world of mostly white people and is not herself white and was not born in this country. And therefore some of the gimlet eyed stuff that we're watching in this movie is an outsider's look in to perhaps a white middle class that doesn't really exist anymore.

[Noemi Fry]

Yeah.

[Vincent Cunningham]

And is fraying and is falling apart. So all of a sudden class differences are not just aesthetic, they are existential.

[Noemi Fry]

Yeah.

[Vincent Cunningham]

And I wonder if that's our changing political economy sort of asserting itself.

[Noemi Fry]

I think there's also a point to be made here that Too much takes place in England while Materialist takes place in America, in New York. I think you're absolutely right. It's existential. The class thing. Or there's a sense that it could potentially be life and death. Save yourself and hitch your wagon to the star of Pedro Pascal who will never go hungry. You will never go hungry. Please, Daddy, save us. Save us with your like $12 million loft.

[Alex Schwartz]

You know that's right.

[Noemi Fry]

Because that's the only chance we're grasping at like, please, like the Bezos of the world. Like, those are.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Send me to space, Daddy.

[Noemi Fry]

Yeah, send me to space, Daddy. That's the only way to be safe. Right? Whereas I do think that in too much, there is a scene early on, I don't remember if it's the first or the second episode where Felix is on the dole. It's implied. He goes to talk to the welfare office and is talking to this guy who's like, have you tried to find a job in the last. You know, I'm not saying that's some idealized state, right? Of, like, welfare isn't happening in England, like, seamlessly and frictionlessly. That's right, certainly. But there is a sense that he's not gonna go hungry. Like, he'll somehow go on with his life and kind of like, be an indie musician and live with a lot of roommates, but it's not gonna be a life and death situation, right? Whereas I think you're completely right, in Materialists, there is a much harsher kind of starkly black or white life and death thing going on.

[Alex Schwartz]

And I think it also has to do with masculinity. You know, surprise. How could it not? But in Materialists, you have these two very different visions of masculinity that are both in crisis. You have the Pedro Pascal character who, yes, looks like a very traditional husband material kind of guy. He has all the money, he's suave. He has. He buys the right flowers for the date, he goes to the right restaurant. He is a provider figure. And then you have the polar opposite. This kind of. I can't even provide for myself. I don't. You know, I broke my shoelace three days ago and I've had to walk around with a rubber band, you know, kind of, kind of vibe, kind of vibe, kind of vibe, kind of vibe from this other guy who feels himself to be in crisis over his masculinity for obvious reasons he can't provide. But it comes out, and here is a little bit of a spoiler. It comes out that Pedro Pascal has. His character has. And here we all must laugh together. Physical insecurities, okay? He's had physical insecurities about his own marketability, his own ability to attract. So on the one hand, I like that this movie is highlighting that fact of reality for men. You know, the fact that the culture is talking about this a little more. And then in. In too much, you have a character who basically is analogous to John. He's an indie musician. And the masculinity there comes through in this kind of softer, caring way. I think the fact that he is equipped to care for Jess to make her tea to listen to her, to kind of have this gentle touch, I think that's presented as this winning version of contemporary masculinity. It's opposed to Jess's ex boyfriend who feels frustrated and takes out his thwarted ambition on his girlfriend by denigrating her and bringing her down. So I think that both of these projects are basically trying to speak to the fact that everyone's ideals are in question. No one kind of knows. And like, to add to this, we're sitting around her talking as if it's, you know, as if we're ourselves, cave people about, like, men and women in heterosexual relationships. Like, okay, there are many alternatives to these things now. It's an. Of course. But it's also, I think, like, you know, what you see and what's fun in Too much is you see that, like, all of her co workers are living these very different lives, like divorced or wanting to try being a lesbian or whatever. It is like wanting to kind of flirt with all of the possibilities that are open in 2025 as opposed to like going down the standard rom com road.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Yeah, well, you say masculinity and it's so true. One of the refrains of materialists is this idea of the quote unquote, high value man, tall, rich, whatever. And that is a refrain that is taken directly from, at least in my experience, the manosphere.

[Noemi Fry]

Yeah.

[Vincent Cunningham]

One of the refrains of this space, the men's rights activism space, is 80% of women want 10% of men. This idea of a kind of scarcity that nobody wants. And this goes to the point that you made about Dakota Johnson's wide chasm of choices. Nobody wants the 80k man who kind of gets by and rents an apartment. And no, no, no, you have to be this superman who can provide and perhaps let you not work. All of a sudden, these ideas of the love match of 2 equals even the 2 income household. Nobody in a 90s rom com is like, therefore leaving their job because they got married. That's not at least the ethos. We're together. I'm the publisher, I'm a journalist. We do this together, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And now we both look at each other's work over our shoulder and be like, oh, good job at work, honey. All of a sudden there's this idea that the love match is not only a haven from the outside world, but it seems that patriarchal heterosexuality is as it is in our culture, reasserting itself.

[Alex Schwartz]

Yeah, this actually makes me feel very hopeful because about the rom com, because it does mean that the rom com has a kind of like a political radicalness to it simply by positing, you know, in that intermediate space that I keep being drawn to, that's between the fairy tale and the utter Hobbesian, you know, life is nasty, brutal and shortishness of it all. Between the looks maxing and the, you know. Oh, I just, you know, you took off your glasses and a beautiful flower was beneath the ogress.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Yes.

[Alex Schwartz]

Like, you know that in the space of reality where love and attraction and soul spark happen for all different kinds of reason that are both material and totally non material, that like that's the place to explore that. That's interesting. And I do think you're seeing two heterosexual women trying to make a case of against that culture that you're talking about. Vincent. That kind of like, you know, the, the manosphere culture of where everything is about a number and there is this idea that everyone's in competition with one another and yeah. That it's just about resource hoarding. But we're all trying to figure out what we want from other people. And that is kind of what the rom com is, is about. So it's rich ground.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Yeah.

[Alex Schwartz]

Come back to it. Filmmakers.

[Vincent Cunningham]

This has been Critics at Large. This week's episode was produced by Michelle o'. Brien. Alex Barish is our consulting editor. Our executive producer is Stephen Valentino. Conde Nast's head of global audio is Chris Bannon. Alexis Pedrado composed our theme music and we had engineering help today from James Yost with mixing by Mike Kutchman. You can find every episode of Critics at [e-mail] critics.

[Unknown]

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[Noemi Fry]

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