This was not a film about a bunch of marxists fixing the world by understanding material conditions, but instead about Dakota Johnson having to choose between Pedro Pascal pretending he’s 6’ tall and Chris Evans pretending he isn’t.

Yet somehow, this film actually is about capitalism. And how it has reduced the concept of relationships to checkboxes and transactions. It effortlessly jumps from silly romcom to handling very serious matters to making me wonder if the director, Celine Song, is on this site (hearing the phrase ‘voluntary celibate’ in this film shocked me).

The writing was phenomenal, giving a realistic look at the rich and the poor alike. I could actually gush about the dialog all day, but honestly, I don’t want to spoil it. Cinematography was also amazing. Nearly every shot was blocked with beautiful intent or used framing to just make great looking shots. The of anamorphic lenses to form frames and tell the story was gorgeous as well.

To criticize the film, I wish we had a bit more from Pascal’s character, I never felt like I was in his head, and Dakota Johnson did not give as good of a performance as the rest of the cast.

So is it about marxist materialism? No, but also in a way, yes. If had to give it a rating, I would say 4.5/5 stars. I might go see it again, because I’m sure there were things I missed.