Two cave people, the first people to fall in love, ragged and dirty from their prehistoric lives, sit down over something beautiful: a bouquet of delicate white flowers. The caveman carefully fashions one flower into a perfect ring, which he gently places on the cave woman’s ring finger.
“Materialists” follows Lucy Mason, played by Dakota Johnson, a New York City matchmaker who finds love for her clients no matter how high or low their standards may be. While at a wedding for her ninth successful client, Mason is approached by the groom’s brother, Harry Castillo, played by Pedro Pascal, who inquires about her recruiting women to be her next client at the wedding.
Just as the two begin to get comfortable with each other, their bubble is burst when Mason’s ex-boyfriend, John Pitts, played by Chris Evans, comes to serve the blossoming pair as their waiter. After catching up with Pitts over a cigarette, Mason goes back inside to give Castillo her business card, where he only agrees to reach out to her if she dances with him, which she does.
Pitts ends up giving Mason a ride home from the wedding, where she is taken back to the worst moments of their relationship. She realizes the upsetting truth about herself and their past relationship: she couldn’t handle being with someone who is struggling financially. Mason wants a life beyond financial insecurity, which Castillo brings to her with ease.
Mason begins living her most luxurious life with the wealthy Castillo, but she doesn’t understand why the “ideal man” wants anything to do with her — and why she still cares about Pitts.
Along with dealing with her own love story, Mason is also juggling matchmaking issues after one of her clients was assaulted on a date. She decides she needs to take a break from matchmaking and focus on helping her client and finding clarity within her own relationship.
Mason and Castillo’s “ideal relationship” comes to a vulnerable end after she discovers he has been lying about his natural height. Both Castillo and his brother had surgery to make them the “ideal height” for women, which leads Mason to realize their relationship is something superficial and surface-level — not built out of love.
Since she was subleasing her apartment while with Castillo, Mason calls Pitts to ask if she can stay at his place until she gets her place back. The two end up crashing a wedding and they share a kiss, where Pitts confesses how he never stopped loving Mason and sees a future with her, to which she still rejects him due to his lack of money.
Things come to a close when Mason’s client has a run-in with the assaulter again, and she stays with her through the night and helps her get a restraining order. The next morning, she finds Pitts still waiting outside for her. With one last effort, he confesses his love for her and, finally, Mason returns his love, along with a kiss.
The movie comes full circle as Mason narrates the final scene of her and Pitts in Central Park. She explains that she has always fantasized about the first people to fall in love, and how they worked things out through the good and the bad. Pitts asks Mason if she wants to make a “poor financial decision,” and surprises her with a flower ring, to which she accepts.
The credits roll over a shot of various couples, Mason and Pitts included, going to the courthouse for marriage licenses.
