Materialists starts on a bizarre note. You'll feel as if you have entered the wrong audi and are accidentally watching some other film! But soon, the film gets on track. This is a talk-heavy film and the dialogues take the conversation forward. A few one-liners are too practical and it works for a film named Materialists. This is also a rare Hollywood film that is more relatable to Indians than Westerners as it deals with matchmaking. On the flipside, some dialogues seem a bit unintentionally funny. Director Celine Song uses film festival-type treatment. In some places, it works and it's interesting to see long takes with no BGM. But few scenes become dry due to this filmmaking technique. The finale is simplistic. Dakota Johnson rocks the show and rises successfully after the Madame Web debacle. Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal look very dashing and as expected, deliver great performances. Marin Ireland (Violet) and Zoë Winters (Sophie) leave a huge mark. All in all, Materialists is worth watching for the subject and performances. Make sure you book your tickets in advance as it has limited shows while the demand is immense.

My rating - *** out of 5!

WILL THE HOLLYWOOD FILMS BRING CHEER AT THE BOX OFFICE?

Last week’s big release Housefull 5 has done decently well at the box office. As expected, it opened at Rs. 22 crores. On Saturday, it saw a jump when it earned Rs. 28.25 crores. The jump was also due to the Bakri Eid holiday. Hence, the Sunday jump was nominal and it earned Rs. 29 crores.

Housefull 5 held well on Monday, earning Rs. 11 crores. On Tuesday, the makers decided to keep the ticket rates cheap, as is the norm since the last two months. The move didn’t work, as intended. The collections dropped to Rs. 9.35 crores.

Housefull 5 is expected to earn Rs. 115 crores in Week 1. If it holds well in Week 2, it’ll be able to have a good lifetime total. Thug Life, on the other hand, opened below expectations in both Hindi and Tamil. It should have ideally collected Rs. 1 crore in Hindi on its day of release. Instead, it took the film 3 days to reach that mark.

This week, there are no major Hindi films and 3 significant Hollywood flicks will try their luck. How To Train Your Dragon had paid previews on Sunday in IMAX theatres and got a great response. The series has some following in India and it is expected to collect around Rs. 1 crore. The same applies to From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina. It will have paid previews tonight, that is, June 12.

The third film, Materialists, seems like a feel-good romcom and stars popular Hollywood actors. But it seems like it’ll get overshadowed by the other two Hollywood biggies as well as Housefull 5.