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Movie Review: ‘Splitsville’
Dakota Johnson in ‘Splitsville’. Photo: Neon.

Opening in limited theaters on August 22nd before expanding wide on September 5th is the new comedy ‘Splitsville‘, directed by Michael Angelo Covino (‘The Climb’) and written by Covino and Kyle Marvin (‘80 for Brady’).
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In addition to Covino and Marvin, the film also stars Dakota Johnson (‘Materialists’), Adria Arjona (‘Hit Man’), Nicholas Braun (‘Succession’), O-T Fagbenle (‘Black Widow’), David Castañeda (‘The Umbrella Academy’), and Charlie Gillespie (‘Julie and the Phantoms’).

Related Article: Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona Talk New Comedy ‘Splitsville’

Initial Thoughts

(L to R) Michael Angelo Covino, Kyle Marvin, Adria Arjona and Dakota Johnson in ‘Splitsville’. Photo: Neon.

A bracing comedy blast from start to finish, ‘Splitsville’ uses the foibles of two mixed-up couples – who really don’t know what the hell they want out of love and marriage, especially the men – to power a hilarious farce that often feels like it’s spiraling out of control even as it reveals some raw truths about the way we handle our most intimate relationships.

Director/co-writer Michael Angelo Covino and co-writer Kyle Marvin both star in the film as the hapless best friends who turn on each other, while Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona ground the story with what could be career-best performances for both.

Story and Direction

Michael Angelo Covino on the set of ‘Splitsville’. Photo: Neon.

Seemingly happy married couple Ashley (Arjona) and Carey (Marvin) have just witnessed a terrible car crash on the road to their friends’ summer house in the Hamptons – a tragic occurrence that ends bizarrely with the first of many moments of male nudity – when Ashley delivers a second shock to the kind-hearted but kind of sad-sack Carey: she wants a divorce. She’s been unfaithful, and she wants her freedom.

Carey literally jumps out of the car and runs miles through woods and streams to their destination, where his best friend Paul (Covino) and Paul’s wife Julie (Dakota Johnson) reveal to him that the secret to their marital success is an open marriage. But all is not quite well beneath the surface for them either, and when Carey and Julie sleep together, all hell breaks loose.

From there, ‘Splitsville’ becomes an increasingly absurd whirlwind of people jumping in and out of bed, falling in and out of love, being dishonest, then honest, and then dishonest again, and trying to navigate their own increasingly confused feelings. Carey offers Ashley an open marriage too, but ends up befriending her succession of flaky lovers, all of whom camp out together at their apartment. Meanwhile, Julie and Carey explore the possibility of finding happiness together, while Paul schemes to win his wife back against increasingly difficult odds.

(L to R) Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona on the set of ‘Splitsville’. Photo: Neon.

Covino films all this in either tight shots of his actors’ faces or long takes that follow the characters like a bemused observer, the highlight being one long, almost uninterrupted fight scene between Paul and Carey that wallows in a Three Stooges-like symphony of slapstick and destruction (both men also get their eyebrows singed off at separate points in the movie). Another long take follows the procession of men into Ashley’s life as she dates them, dumps them, and then leaves them to hang about the house with Carey as therapist and erstwhile squad leader.

Not surprisingly, it’s the men who have the hardest time reconciling their own feelings, expressing themselves through half-hearted violence or man-childish pouting. It all spins madly and madly around, leaping from one laugh-out-loud moment to another, and while ‘Splitsville’ may not possess enough emotional resonance to make it really stick, it will still leave you buzzing with laughter over the absurdity of the situation and the way the characters act out.

Cast and Performances

(L to R) Michael Angelo Covino, Simon Webster and Dakota Johnson in ‘Splitsville’. Photo: Neon.

Dakota Johnson is even better here than she was in ‘Materialists,’ displaying an emotional depth and sensuality that was perhaps not visible in the latter film’s transactional matchmaker. Her Julie is the most grounded of the central quartet, realizing the soonest what she wants and understanding that all her choices haven’t been wise ones. Adria Arjona shows off great comic timing here, also keeping her wits about her while she barrels through a cavalcade of unworthy men only to circle back to where she started.

Kyle Marvin and Michael Angelo Covino use their own real-life friendship to create the bond between Carey and Paul, two lifelong pals who nevertheless hide a secret competitiveness over everything from the size of their bank accounts to the size of their personal equipment (one’s is far larger than the other’s). While their friendship is stretched far past the breaking point, there’s still an underlying attachment: ‘No knives!’ they both shout at one point in their centerpiece fight, both somehow knowing to stop their toxic masculinity from turning uglier even if they still wreck the place.

Final Thoughts

Adria Arjona in ‘Splitsville’. Photo: Neon.

With humor not in abundance at the box office these days, ‘Splitsville’ manages to resurrect the rom-com, the screwball comedy, and the bedroom farce in one fell swoop. It’s manic, zany, and often absurd, yet still manages to get in a few salient points about the social construct of marriage – mainly that once you unzip that most intimate of relationships, it’s difficult to zip it back up again without leaving a few precious things outside.

‘Splitsville’ receives a score of 85 out of 100.

(L to R) Adria Arjona and Kyle Marvin in ‘Splitsville’. Photo: Neon.

What is the plot of ‘Splitsville’?

After Ashley (Adria Arjona) asks for a divorce, good-natured Carey (Kyle Marvin) runs to his friends, Julie (Dakota Johnson) and Paul (Michael Angelo Covino), for support. He’s shocked to discover that the secret to their happiness is an open marriage — that is until Carey crosses the line and throws all of their relationships into chaos.

Who is in the cast of ‘Splitsville’?
- Dakota Johnson as Julie
- Adria Arjona as Ashley
- Kyle Marvin as Carey
- Michael Angelo Covino as Paul
- Nicholas Braun as Matt the Mentalist
- David Castañeda as Fede
- O-T Fagbenle as Brent
- Charlie Gillespie as Jackson
‘Splitsville’ opens in limited theaters on August 22, 2025, before expanding wide on September 5, 2025. Photo: Neon.

List of Dakota Johnson Movies:
- ‘Crazy in Alabama‘ (1999)
- ‘The Social Network‘ (2010)
- ‘Beastly‘ (2011)
- ‘21 Jump Street‘ (2012)
- ‘The Five-Year Engagement‘ (2012)
- ‘Need for Speed‘ (2014)
- ‘Fifty Shades of Grey‘ (2015)
- ‘Black Mass‘ (2015)
- ‘How to Be Single‘ (2016)
- ‘Fifty Shades Darker‘ (2017)
- ‘Fifty Shades Freed‘ (2018)
- ‘Suspiria‘ (2018)
- ‘Bad Times at the El Royale‘ (2018)
- ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon‘ (2019)
- ‘The High Note‘ (2020)
- ‘The Lost Daughter‘ (2021)
- ‘Madame Web‘ (2024)
- ‘Materialists‘ (2025)
- ‘Splitsville‘ (2025)
Buy Tickets: ‘Splitsville’ Movie Showtimes

Buy Dakota Johnson Movies on Amazon
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August 20, 2025
‘Splitsville’ Interview: Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona
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Opening in limited theaters on August 22nd before expanding wide on September 5th is the new comedy ‘Splitsville‘, which was directed by Michael Angelo Covino (‘The Climb’) and written by Covino and Kyle Marvin (‘80 for Brady’).
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In addition to Covino and Marvin, the film also stars Dakota Johnson (‘Materialists’), Adria Arjona (‘Hit Man’), Nicholas Braun (‘Succession’), O-T Fagbenie (‘Black Widow’), David Castañeda (‘The Umbrella Academy’), and Charlie Gillespie (‘Julie and the Phantoms’).

(L to R) Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona star in ‘Splitsville’.

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of sitting down in person with Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona to talk about their work on ‘Splitsville’, their first reactions to the screenplay, their characters, and working with actors and filmmakers Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin.

You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Johnson, Arjona, Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin.

Related Article: Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans to Star in ‘Materialists’

Dakota Johnson in ‘Splitsville’. Photo: Neon.

Moviefone: To begin with, Dakota, the movie is very funny. Can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay, and did it read funny on the page?

Dakota Johnson: I mean, yes, especially because I had the tone of in my head because I had seen ‘The Climb’ and I feel like when you know their voices and you know their candor, you implement that into reading the script. So, it’s a very specific tone of comedy, you know.

MF: Just to follow up, do you think you found a lot of the humor in the movie organically on set?

DJ: Yeah, there was a lot of improvisation and a lot of moments like that. I feel like the funniest moments in the movie are the devastating ones where it’s like humans not getting it right with each other and feeling so uncomfortable, rather than like a set-up and joke.

Adria Arjona in ‘Splitsville’. Photo: Neon.

MF: Adria, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and what were some of the characteristics of Ashley that you were excited to explore on screen?

Adria Arjona: When I read it was like, “What in the world am I reading?” Especially the opening of this film, it’s probably one of the craziest openings of any movie I’ve ever read. In the first 10 minutes, the movie kind of just slaps you in the face in the best way possible. So, it was funny, and I had also watched ‘The Climb’, so it was one of those things that it was an undeniable, yes for me. Then, you know, Ashley, she just goes through so much in this film. She starts off having everything she ever wanted and taking it for granted in ways and then jumping through hoops to realize that maybe she was wrong or maybe she was right. She dives into the definition of what an open relationship is, and she’s excited about it. She’s a woman in her 30s that’s trying to discover who she is and feels like she’s letting herself go, she doesn’t have this exploration, which is something that I bet a lot of women who get married kind of feel, and then she teaches you this beautiful lesson. So, I was interested in kind of exploring that.

(L to R) Michael Angelo Covino, Kyle Marvin, Adria Arjona and Dakota Johnson in ‘Splitsville’. Photo: Neon.

MF: Finally, Dakota, as a producer and an actor, what was it like working with Kyle Marvin and Michael Angelo Covino as both actors and filmmakers on this project?

DJ: Contentious. I think it’s kind of what I love so much about this movie is the contention that you see between the characters on screen, it also was happening behind the scenes with producers and the filmmakers and the DP. Everyone was heightened creativity, and it just was a very collaborative experience, but fiery. Everyone was quite into their own opinions. I mean, I think we made a good movie, so ultimately in a good way.

(L to R) Michael Angelo Covino, Simon Webster and Dakota Johnson in ‘Splitsville’. Photo: Neon.

What is the plot of ‘’Splitsville’?

When his wife Ashley (Adria Arjona) asks for a divorce, Carey (Kyle Marvin) runs to his friends (Michael Angelo Covino and Dakota Johnson) for support, only to learn that the secret to their happiness is an open marriage; that is, until Carey crosses the line and throws all their relationships into chaos.

Who is in the cast of ‘Splitsville’?
- Kyle Marvin as Carey
- Michael Angelo Covino as Paul
- Dakota Johnson as Julie
- Adria Arjona as Ashley
- Nicholas Braun as Matt the Mentalist
- David Castañeda as Fede
- O-T Fagbenle as Brent
- Charlie Gillespie as Jackson
(L to R) Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona on the set of ‘Splitsville’. Photo: Neon.

List of Dakota Johnson Movies:
- ‘Crazy in Alabama‘ (1999)
- ‘The Social Network‘ (2010)
- ‘Beastly‘ (2011)
- ‘21 Jump Street‘ (2012)
- ‘The FiveYear Engagement‘ (2012)
- ‘Need for Speed‘ (2014)
- ‘Fifty Shades of Grey‘ (2015)
- ‘Black Mass‘ (2015)
- ‘How to Be Single‘ (2016)
- ‘Fifty Shades Darker‘ (2017)
- ‘Fifty Shades Freed‘ (2018)
- ‘Suspiria‘ (2018)
- ‘Bad Times at the El Royale‘ (2018)
- ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon‘ (2019)
- ‘The High Note‘ (2020)
- ‘The Lost Daughter‘ (2021)
- ‘Madame Web‘ (2024)
- ‘Materialists‘ (2025)
- ‘Splitsville‘ (2025)
Buy Tickets: ‘Splitsville’ Movie Showtimes

Buy Dakota Johnson Movies on Amazon
August 18, 2025
Movie Review: ‘Materialists’
Dakota Johnson in ‘Materialists’. Credit: Atsushi Nishijima.

‘Materialists’ receives 9 out of 10 stars.

Opening in theaters June 13 is ‘Materialists,’ directed by Celine Song and starring Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, Chris Evans, Zoë Winters, Marin Ireland, Dasha Nekrasova, Louisa Jacobson, and John Magaro.

Related Article: Chris Evans in Talks to Return to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

Initial Thoughts

(L to R) Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal in ‘Materialists’. Credit: Atsushi Nishijima.

If you’re going into ‘Materialists’ thinking that this will be something of a traditional romantic comedy, think again. While the trailers may sort of sell it that way, ‘Materialists’ is quite different and deeper. Written and directed by Celine Song, whose 2023 debut ‘Past Lives’ was a melancholy exploration of memory and lost love, ‘Materialists’ looks at dating, romance, and love through the lens of a transactional society.

At its most basic level, ‘Materialists’ has a romantic triangle at its heart. But that three-way relationship is seen as a numbers game, with Song deftly outlining how cold logic and math can lead – if the participants are lucky – to some semblance of happiness, while also opening the door to disaster. The film is also an intimate, detailed character study of the three people at its center, how they perceive themselves, and how they perceive each other. While it wobbles a bit down the stretch, ‘Materialists’ is an emotionally resonant, culturally relevant look at how and why we expose ourselves to love, and the danger of treating people – especially women – as commodities.

Story and Direction

(L to R) Director Celine Song, Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans on the set of ‘Materialists’. Credit: Atsushi Nishijima.

Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a professional matchmaker, working with well-off, usually older clients – both male and female – to help them find the perfect person with whom to fall in love. But many of Lucy’s clients have stringent or unrealistic expectations: the women are looking for a six-foot-tall man with a six-figure (at least) income, while the men don’t want anything too “intense or complicated.” As one man says, he doesn’t have much in common with women in their early twenties…so he wants to date women in their late twenties.

As for Lucy, she’s a self-described “voluntary celibate” who has broken up with her boyfriend John (Chris Evans) after five years. John, an unemployed actor, works as a cater-waiter to make ends meet and shares his crummy Manhattan apartment with two sloppy roommates. Having grown up poor and trying to pursue her own career, Lucy does not wish to live that way: she wants to be comfortable and taken care of, and sees marrying into wealth as the only way to achieve that – or so she thinks.

That’s why the matchmaking service she provides breaks love down to “checking boxes” on a list: the candidate’s age, height, salary, job, and even the state of their hair are all factored into the equation without a thought of whether these two strangers can connect in a more intimate, personal way. “Marriage is a business deal,” Lucy tells one of her clients who’s about to take the final step of walking down the aisle. “You can always walk away if the deal is no good.”

Dakota Johnson in ‘Materialists’. Credit: Atsushi Nishijima.

All of this is transactional for Lucy, so when she meets Harry (Pedro Pascal) at that same wedding, who she describes as a unicorn for seemingly checking off all her boxes effortlessly, she decides to begin dating him after he asks her out – even though she insists he can do better. And even though she and John are no more, he’s still in her life as a friend (who is also clearly pining for her). Lucy begins to wonder just what she does want out of a relationship – as her carefully structured philosophy about dating and romance begins to unravel around her.

Aside from a third-act plot turn that might have been handled a little more smoothly, ‘Materialists’ is top-notch storytelling about modern relationships and love – and how even those most precious aspects of human life can be somehow stripped down to, as Lucy says, a business deal. It’s only when she gets into a potentially lucrative deal of her own in that sense that she begins to realize what a shallow worldview that is, and how the same approach to her job may end in misery for her clients – and in the case of women, even danger.

Song’s script cleanly delivers all this through a spare, modest, yet impactful narrative and deftly rendered characterizations, filtered through lovely lensing of the movie’s New York locations by cinematographer Shabier Kirchner. In the end, the movie is a pointed critique of the society we’re living in now: where everyone thinks they’re entitled to everything, and you don’t have to work for it — even love.

Cast and Performances

(L to R) Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans in ‘Materialists’. Credit: Atsushi Nishijima.

Coming off the embarrassment of 2024’s ‘Madame Web,’ Dakota Johnson bounces back nicely here with perhaps the best performance of her career to date. Lucy is a complex, finely-drawn single woman in her mid-30s who has grown up poor and is deeply afraid of falling back into that situation, which has led her to not just view her own romantic life in a clinical way but boil her services as a matchmaker down to cold equations. Johnson does an excellent job of putting up Lucy’s armor, only to gradually show us the pain and doubt beneath.

The same could be said for Chris Evans – while his choices since exiting the role of Captain America have been hit and miss, ‘Materialists’ also represents his best work since putting down the shield. John is acutely aware of his circumstances, his lack of motivation, and his own deep desire for love and connection, and blames himself for letting Lucy get away. His own pain at seeing her is evident from the start, but he’s also desperate to maintain their connection by being the best friend he can be. This is a sensitive turn from Evans, who can be a come across as all surface with the wrong material, and demonstrates his underrated ability to portray vulnerability.

Pedro Pascal’s Harry is a bit less layered and defined than either Lucy or John, although he avoids stereotyping by being an incredibly wealthy man who does not see others around him as playthings – even when he reveals something about himself late in the game. Pascal is empathetic and charismatic as always. The other star player of the film is Zoë Winters (‘Succession’) as Lucy’s client Sophie, who delivers a monologue late in the film that is raw and just devastating, a cry of anger and frustration that will resonate with many single women of a certain age. The actor just nails it in a showstopper of a moment.

Final Thoughts

(L to R) Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal in ‘Materialists’. Credit: Atsushi Nishijima.

Don’t get us wrong: ‘Materialists’ is not a somber meditation on late-stage capitalism infecting every aspect of our lives. It’s not somber, anyway. It’s funny, witty, and yes, melancholy, and it also doesn’t shy away from pointedly critiquing how the commodification of the most basic, wonderful, and complex of all human interactions is inherently not a good thing.

In other words, it’s not “just math,” despite what Lucy says early in the film. And ‘Materialists’ is not just, as we said early on in this review, a standard rom-com or even a typical romantic drama. It’s a movie with something far deeper on its mind, and Celine Song once again explores the intricacies of the human heart with candor and clarity, making this possibly one of the best movies made for adults that you’ll see this year.
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What is the plot of ‘Materialists’?

A young, ambitious New York City matchmaker finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.

Who is in the cast of ‘Materialists’?
- Dakota Johnson as Lucy
- Chris Evans as John
- Pedro Pascal as Harry Castillo
- Zoë Winters as Sophie
- Marin Ireland as Violet
- Dasha Nekrasova as Daisy
- Louisa Jacobson as Charlotte
- Sawyer Spielberg as Mason
- Eddie Cahill as Robert
- Joseph Lee as Trevor
- John Magaro as Mark P.
Dakota Johnson in ‘Materialists’. Credit: Atsushi Nishijima.

List of Movies Starring Dakota Johnson:
- ‘The Social Network’ (2010)
- ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ (2015)
- ‘A Bigger Splash’ (2016)
- ‘Fifty Shades Darker’ (2017)
- ‘Fifty Shades Freed’ (2018)
- ‘Suspiria’ (2018)
- ‘Bad Times at the El Royale’ (2018)
- ‘The Lost Daughter’ (2021)
- ‘Daddio’ (2024)
- ‘Madame Web’ (2024)
- ‘Materialists’ (2025)
Buy Tickets: ‘Materialists’ Movie Showtimes

Buy Dakota Johnson Movies on Amazon
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June 13, 2025
Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal to Lead ‘Materialists’
(Left) Dakota Johnson from Columbia Pictures’ ‘Madame Web’ at the Baile da Vogue, Copacabana Palace, Rio de Janeiro Brazil. Photo: Leca Novo. (Center) Pedro Pascal at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards, airing live from the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on Sunday, January 7, 2024, at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT, on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. Photo: Francis Specker/CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (Right) Chris Evans as Brenner in ‘Pain Hustlers.’ Cr. Brian Douglas/Netflix © 2023.

Preview:
- Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans are starring in ‘Materialists’.
- This is the new movie from ‘Past Lives’ director Celine Song.
- It’ll be a New York-set rom-com.
It’s fair to say that with ‘Past Lives’, Korean writer/director Celine Song has announced herself as a new cinematic voice.

Her romantic drama feature debut, which stars Greta Lee, Teo Woo and John Magaro, first garnered attention at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, where its quietly powerful story of old friends and potential lovers reconnecting hit a chord.

It has since gone on to win numerous awards and dominate critics’ Best Of lists for the year and is in the running for two Oscars –– Original Screenplay and Best Picture.

You can imagine, then, that big-name talent would be beating down the down to work with her, and for the director’s next film, ‘Materialists’, she’s scored quite the potential cast in Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans, who are all in talks to star.
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What’s the story of ‘Materialists’?

Here’s the official synopsis for the new movie:

“Set against the vibrant backdrop of New York City, a city that never sleeps and is known for its diverse and dynamic relationships, ‘Materialists’ provides a unique glimpse into the lives of the city’s elite. Lucy’s expertise in matchmaking is highly sought after by those willing to pay a premium for her services. However, with a broke actor-waiter in her romantic past and a new attachment to a wealthy man, all signs point to a toxic love triangle that threatens to unravel the lives of all involved.”

According to the director, the new movie is inspired by the sort of spiky romantic comedies such as ‘Broadcast News’ that James L. Brooks specializes in, which makes us even more eager to see what Song could do with a film like this.

Who is backing Song’s new movie?

(L to R) Greta Lee and Teo Yoo in ‘Past Lives.’ Photo: A24.

The new movie reteams the director with distributors A24 and with producers Killer Films, both of which shepherded ‘Past Lives’ to screens.

Here’s what producer Christine Vachon had to say about Song:

“It feels like she makes a different movie every time, that she’s going to be the kind of a filmmaker who doesn’t make the same movie twice.”

The plan is to start shooting the new movie in May, which makes us think Song is looking to have it ready for the 2025 edition of Sundance.

What’s next for the cast?

Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson) in Columbia Pictures’ ‘Madame Web.’

Johnson has ‘Madame Web’ set to open in theaters next week, while Pascal has several films including ‘Drive-Away Dolls’, ‘The Uninvited’ and ‘Freaky Tales’ due this year alongside Ridley Scott’s ‘Gladiator’ sequel. He’s also back at work shooting Season 2 of hit HBO series ‘The Last of Us’.

As for Evans, he’ll next be seen opposite Dwayne Johnson in holiday adventure movie ‘Red One’ due to be released on November 15th.

(L to R) Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans in Prime Video’s ‘Red One.’

Other Dakota Johnson Movies:
- ‘Crazy in Alabama‘ (1999)
- ‘The Social Network‘ (2010)
- ‘Beastly‘ (2011)
- ‘21 Jump Street‘ (2012)
- ‘The FiveYear Engagement‘ (2012)
- ‘Need for Speed‘ (2014)
- ‘Fifty Shades of Grey‘ (2015)
- ‘Black Mass‘ (2015)
- ‘How to Be Single‘ (2016)
- ‘Fifty Shades Darker‘ (2017)
- ‘Fifty Shades Freed‘ (2018)
- ‘Suspiria‘ (2018)
- ‘Bad Times at the El Royale‘ (2018)
- ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon‘ (2019)
- ‘The High Note‘ (2020)
- ‘The Lost Daughter‘ (2021)
- ‘Madame Web‘ (2024)
Buy Dakota Johnson Movies on Amazon
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February 15, 2024
Movie Review: ‘Madame Web’
Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson) in Columbia Pictures’ ‘Madame Web.’

Opening in theaters on February 14th is ‘Madame Web,’ starring Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Celeste O’Connor, Tahar Rahim, Emma Roberts, and Adam Scott.

Initial Thoughts

Just when you thought the “Sony Spider-Man Universe” (as the Sony Pictures cinematic pool of movies starring Spider-Man villains and minor characters has come to be known) couldn’t get any sillier and more generic than ‘Morbius,’ now ‘Madame Web’ comes along to say “hold my beer.” Despite a promising cast and director, ‘Madame Web’ – based on a little-known yet powerful psychic in the Marvel canon – ends up deadly dull.

Related Article: Dakota Johnson is in Talks to Star in Sony’s Spider-Verse Movie ‘Madame Web’

Story and Direction

(L to R) Dakota Johnson and Director S.J. Clarkson at a Photo Call for Columbia Pictures’ ‘Madame Web’ at the Fasano Rio De Janiero. Photo: Renan Olivetti.

There’s the kernel of an interesting – if hardly original – idea at the center of ‘Madame Web’: if you could see your future and knew who was going to kill you, would you kill them first? That is what fuels Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim of ‘A Prophet’ fame), who we first meet in the Peruvian Amazon, circa 1973, alongside a woman named Constance Webb (Kerry Bishé). Sims is ostensibly providing security for the very pregnant Webb, who’s on a mission – via some exceedingly clumsy expository dialogue — to find a rare spider whose DNA can provide incredible strength, healing and regenerative powers.

In the first of many thuddingly obvious and overly telegraphed plot points, Constance is betrayed by Sims once she finds the spider. After he takes off with the arachnid and leaves her for dead, Constance is rescued by an Amazonian tribe, once thought mythical, who apparently derive their powers from the spider – the “Spider-People.” Their English-speaking leader cannot save Constance, but does manage to save her baby.

Thirty years later, that baby has grown up to be Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson), a paramedic who prefers being alone despite the affection of her partner, Ben Parker (Adam Scott), and his efforts to get her to be part of the world. Cassie’s life, however, takes a turn for the bizarre when she nearly drowns while rescuing an accident victim on a bridge – an incident that somehow triggers in her an ability to see glimpses of the future.

At the same time, Ezekiel Sims – who is apparently now incredibly wealthy, although it’s never exactly explained how – has the same power, as well as super-strength and sticky hands and feet, no doubt thanks to giving himself some spider-cells. He keeps seeing visions of being sent to his death by three young costumed women – in a sort of teaser for films yet to come – and sets out to stop them by any means necessary. This puts him on a collision course with Cassie, who is inexplicably drawn to the three teenage girls as well: Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney), Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced), and Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Connor).

Ezekiel (Tahar Rahim) in Columbia Pictures’ ‘Madame Web.’ Photo: Courtesy of Sony Pictures. © 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

What follows is a tediously exposition-heavy story (much of the dialogue, particularly Sims’, seems re-recorded in post-production) that strains to explain unsuccessfully how and why Cassie’s powers work, why this connects her to a larger history of so-called “Spider-people,” and how her life will interconnect with those of the other three women. The explanations fail to provide any real spark for the story, while other questions — like why Sims wears a Spider-Man outfit 15 years before Spider-Man did, or why Cassie drives around the entire second half of the movie in a stolen cab and manages to fly to Peru despite being wanted for kidnapping three teen girls – remain unanswered.

‘Madame Web’ is all plot: one story beat just gets hooked to the next, and there’s no interest on the part of the four credited screenwriters (plus one who gets “story by” credit) in trying to make any truly credible or emotional connections between any of the characters. Any way in which they connect is happenstance: after Cassie, a total stranger, saves their lives on a subway train, the three girls just completely put their fates in her hands because the story requires them to.

Even when she abandons them in the woods at one point, or abruptly leaves them with Ben and his very pregnant sister-in-law Mary (Emma Roberts) while she zooms off to Peru — apparently a journey one can make in a matter of hours — no one seems to question any of this except in the most casual way. That’s because none of these characters even remotely seem like people – they’re just pawns being pushed around so Sony can make another Spider-Man-adjacent movie (and yes, Easter eggs abound here, including the egregious inversion of perhaps the most famous line in Marvel lore).

‘Madame Web’ comes across as a desperate attempt to make something, anything, out of whatever scraps of Marvel canon the filmmakers can pull together. The movie assumes that fans will nod knowingly at the names of the girls, but it doesn’t give us any reason to care or wonder why they’re drawn together in the first place. Making her feature debut, director S.J. Clarkson (who has helmed episodes of ‘Jessica Jones’ and ‘The Defenders’) is competent enough, but she can’t enliven these connect-the-dots proceedings with any genuine life (the final action scene – a mix of Cassie’s precognition and what actually happens – is sadly nearly incomprehensible).

Of course, ‘Madame Web’ is all mostly set-up by the end, and one can almost hear the producers high-fiving each other over the multiple Spider-sequels that they set up. But the creative exhaustion that seeps from the screen tells another story.

Meet The Spider-Team

(L to R) Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Connor), Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson), Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced), and Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney) in Columbia Pictures’ ‘Madame Web.’ Photo: Sony Pictures. © 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

As with a lot of recent movies, the cast for this looks good on paper, but are limited in what they can do with the material. Dakota Johnson works hard to elevate the character and script – she is an intelligent and witty actor, as well as a graceful beauty – but she seems lost at times and unsure just what kind of tone she’s supposed to be playing.

Her co-stars aren’t given nearly enough character development, and while the idea of an all-female super-team is long overdue on the screen (we’re still waiting for the MCU’s ‘A-Force’ movie), this is not the launchpad it needs. Sydney Sweeney proves again that while talented and occasionally inspired, she needs solid direction. Isabela Merced doesn’t much improve on her work in ‘Transformers: The Last Knight.’ Celeste O’Connor manages to show some spunk as Mattie, making her shine the brightest.

As for Tahar Rahim, he’s working with a strange accent and a lot of looped dialogue, his usual air of quiet menace only occasionally peeking through. And while we always have time for Adam Scott, we wish he wasn’t saddled with a character whose eventual fate is pre-ordained and well-known.

The Sony Spider-Verse Problem

Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven the Hunter in ‘Kraven the Hunter.’

‘Madame Web’ is the ultimate distillation of everything that’s wrong with the “Sony Spider-Man Universe,” which as we mentioned above, essentially features lesser-known Spider-Man characters (usually villains, but sometimes not) in stories that do not feature Spider-Man except in the most tangential, offscreen way.

Madame Web is such a relatively minor character, so little-known outside diehard Marvel fans – in the comics, she’s a blind, elderly mutant with tremendous precognitive powers — that her story is just not that dynamic. She doesn’t have the weight of other top-shelf Spider-Man characters. She is often there mainly as support, and has never been featured all that prominently.

As a result – and thanks to the producers’ insatiable need to somehow connect these movies to a Spider-Man who never appears in them – we get a story that’s contrived even by the standards of comic books. In this case, the limits of the Spider-Man mythology are pushed to create an entire ancient history where none existed. The beauty of Spider-Man is that he’s just a kid who randomly stumbles into having great powers; make him part of a longer, bigger history and what makes him unique is diluted.

And frankly, as Marvel fans, we worry that movies like ‘Morbius,’ ‘Madame Web,’ and the upcoming ‘Kraven the Hunter’ simply dilute both the Spider-Man and Marvel brands more and more. At a time when superhero movies are facing genuine headwinds for the first time in a decade, low-quality, low-rent spinoffs are not what’s needed. Our advice to Sony? Keep making Spider-Man movies with Marvel Studios, continue with the animated ‘Spider-Verse’ films, and lose all the rest.

Final Thoughts

Dakota Johnson attends the ‘Madame Web’ photocall at Claridge’s Hotel on January 31, 2024 in London, England. Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Sony Pictures.

We’ve ranted on a bit about this Sony/Marvel cinematic universe being a dead-end, so we won’t say much more. But ‘Madame Web’ plays unfortunately like a movie that could have been spit out by AI, with performances and direction not much above that. There are a few bright spots, and Marvel completists will feel obligated to check it out, but ‘Madame Web’ is ill-conceived and trapped in a web of pointlessness.

‘Madame Web’ receives 4 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Madame Web’?

Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson) is a paramedic working in New York City who discovers she has the power to see the future – and also to change it. Finding her destiny intertwined with that of three young women also possessing extraordinary powers, she must find a way to protect all of them from a mysterious enemy.

Who is in the cast of ‘Madame Web’?
- Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb
- Sydney Sweeney as Julia Cornwall
- Isabela Merced as Anya Corazon
- Celeste O’Connor as Mattie Franklin
- Tahar Rahim as Ezekiel Sims
- Adam Scott as Ben Parker
- Emma Roberts as Mary Parker
Columbia Pictures’ ‘Madame Web.’

Other Movies Similar to ‘Madame Web’:
- ‘Spider-Man‘ (2002)
- ‘Spider-Man 2‘ (2004)
- ‘Spider-Man 3‘ (2007)
- ‘The Amazing Spider-Man‘ (2012)
- ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2‘ (2014)
- ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming‘ (2017)
- ‘Spider-Man: Far from Home‘ (2019)
- ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse‘ (2018)
- ‘Venom‘ (2018)
- ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage‘ (2021)
- ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home‘ (2021)
- ‘Morbius‘ (2022)
- ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse‘ (2023)
Buy Tickets: ‘Madame Web’ Movie Showtimes

Buy Dakota Johnson Movies on Amazon
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February 13, 2024
Adam Scott Joins the Cast of ‘Madame Web’

Adam Scott in “Severance,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

There’s a new piece of casting for Sony’s ‘Spider-Man’ spin-off ‘Madame Web’, with ‘Severance’ star Adam Scott joining the cast.

Naturally, this being a big superhero movie, Scott’s role is a mystery for now, but we could see him playing a loyal friend or some tech bro villain. He’s been solid in both types of roles in the past. The possibilities, though, are endless.

Scott is the latest recruit for an ensemble that already includes Dakota Johnson (who has the lead role, and presumably plays a version of the title character), Emma Roberts, Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, Mike Epps, Isabela Merced and Tahar Rahim.

SJ Clarkson, who has worked on shows including ‘Jessica Jones’ and ‘Succession’, is making her film directing debut here, with Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless writing from the script and replacing an earlier draft by Kerem Sanga.

Originally created by writer Denny O’Neil and artist John Romita Jr., Madame Web first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #210, which was published in November 1980.

Photo courtesy of Marvel Entertainment.

Known as Cassandra Webb, she is usually depicted as an elderly blind woman suffering from a chronic neuromuscular disease that makes it difficult to move and breathe, and as such, she’s connected to a life support system that looks like a spider web. The clairvoyant character has telepathic, precognitive, and astral projection abilities and once helped Spider-Man find a kidnap victim.

It doesn’t exactly sound like the basis for a thrilling superhero outing, but Madame Web’s history has crossed path with various heroes. Plus, as you might expect from a comic book character, there has been more than one holder of the title.

In Amazing Spider-Man #636, Madame Web transfers her powers into a younger woman, Julia Carpenter, who takes over the role and oversees storylines such as Spider-Island, which finds all of Manhattan’s population developing Spider powers. We don’t expect Peter Parker – played by Tom Holland or anyone else – to show up, despite the comic-book connection.

Scott, who was previously more known for his comedy work in movies such as ‘Step Brothers’, ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ and ‘Knocked Up’ alongside TV series including ‘Parks & Recreation’ and ‘The Good Place’ has also kept his hand in with drama on screens both big and small on movies including ‘Black Mass’ and ‘August’.

With ‘Severance’, he’s enjoyed his biggest success to date, earning an Emmy nomination this week for his critically lauded role in the Ben Stiller-directed series. While ‘Madame Web’ would mark his first superhero genre movie, he’s no stranger to horror or sci-fi, having appeared in ‘Piranha 3D’, ‘Hellraiser: Bloodline’ and in a small role in ‘Star Trek: First Contact’.

‘Madame Web’ is in production now and will swing into theaters on July 7th next year.
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July 15, 2022
Emma Roberts Joins ‘Madame Web’

Emma Roberts attends the 89th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on February 26, 2017 in Hollywood, California. Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images.

As with much of Sony’s non-animated, non MCU-connected Spider-Man universe output, we’re still not sure what to expect from ‘Madame Web’. Aside from digging into the comic books to ferret out potential plot nuggets, and divine possible character choices, it’s a mystery. Especially since the studio has staunchly refused to release so much as a logline at this early stage.

What we’ve had to go on so far is the casting, and the latest word has now made it into the world: Emma Roberts is joining the ensemble, according to Deadline.

She joins a cast that already includes Dakota Johnson (who has the lead role, and presumably plays a version of the title character – more on that below), Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced and Tahar Rahim. There are zero details on who anyone is playing just yet.

SJ Clarkson, who has worked on shows including ‘Jessica Jones’ and ‘Succession’, is making her film directing debut here, with Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless writing from the script and replacing an earlier draft by Kerem Sanga.

Originally created by writer Denny O’Neil and artist John Romita Jr., Madame Web first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #210, which was published in November 1980.

Known as Cassandra Webb, she is usually depicted as an elderly blind woman suffering from a chronic neuromuscular disease that makes it difficult to move and breathe, and as such, she’s connected to a life support system that looks like a spider web. The clairvoyant character has telepathic, precognitive, and astral projection abilities and once helped Spider-Man find a kidnap victim.
It doesn’t exactly sound like the basis for a thrilling superhero outing, but Madame Web’s history has crossed path with various heroes. Plus, as you might expect from a comic book character, there has been more than one holder of the title.

mo Photo courtesy of Marvel Entertainment.

In Amazing Spider-Man #636, Madame Web transfers her powers into a younger woman, Julia Carpenter, who takes over the role and oversees storylines such as Spider-Island, which finds all of Manhattan’s population developing Spider powers.

The younger character sounds like who Johnson will be playing, though of course at this stage it’s anyone’s guess what the movie team will pick and choose to use in the final story. What if, for example, that younger cast points to a variety of potential Madame Webs… or is it Madames Web? Probably not.

This, of course, is the latest evolution on Sony’s plan to keep its live-action Spider-spin-offs growing. They’ve been a hit and miss affair so far: the ‘Venom’ movies overcame negative critical reactions to generate big box office (a third is in the early stages)meanwhile ‘Morbius’ has… not so much.

Next up is ‘Kraven the Hunter’, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, a ‘Silk’ TV series, and likely much further down the line, a potential ‘Sinister Six’ team up of Spider-villains.

For now, then, ‘Kraven’, ‘Madame Web’ and the next ‘Venom’ are carrying the hopes of Sony’s Spidey time.
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June 27, 2022
Denzel Washington Back for ‘The Equalizer 3’

Denzel Washington in Sony Pictures’ ‘The Equalizer.’

It has been nearly four years since Denzel Washington last dished out crusading, rough justice to baddies in ‘The Equalizer 2’. Since then, he’s been busy on other fronts, including producing ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’, directing ‘A Journal for Jordan’ and appearing in ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’, and ‘The Little Things’.

Yet following talk back in January that Sony was putting the pieces – including Washington and director Antoine Fuqua – back together for a third ‘Equalizer’ outing, we have confirmation that the plan is for them to return, since the studio handed out a release date.

“They have written the third ‘Equalizer’, so I’m scheduled to do that, Washington told Collider back then. “So I gotta get in shape and start beating people up again. I get to beat people up again. ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’ and then going and beating some people up. Can’t get any better, right?”

For those who might have forgotten, the ‘Equalizer’ movies are a reboot of the classic 80s television series of the same name created by Richard Lindheim and Michael Sloan. The series followed Edward Woodward as Robert McCall, a retired intelligence agent who becomes a private detective.

The first film, from 2014, saw Washington starring as McCall alongside Marton Csokas, Chloë Grace Moretz, David Harbour, Melissa Leo, and Bill Pullman as he faced off against the Russian Mafia to protect a young girl. The 2018 sequel has Washington, Leo, and Pullman all returning, joined by Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders, and Orson Bean as Washington’s McCall sets out on a mission of revenge when one of his friends is murdered.

Details about the third movie have yet to be revealed, but you can reliably expect that Washington’s Robert McCall will bring his smarts and creative weapons skills to another tough mission battling criminals.

Sony is looking to release the new movie on September 1st, 2023.
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The news comes amidst the studio reorganizing its release slate, including the disappointing announcement that ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ sequel ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ is being pushed back from a planned 2022 date into next year.

This latest outing for Miles Morales and co., which has dropped the “Part One” from its title, will now bow in theaters on June 2, 2023. And the third movie in the series is also on the move: ‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Part II’ is due on March 29th, 2024.

Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson are co-directing the movies from a screenplay by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and David Callaham.

That wasn’t the only Spider-news to hit from Sony – the company has also handed out a July 7, 2023 spot to ‘Madame Web’, which stars Dakota Johnson as the title character, a clairvoyant with abilities to see into the spider world. Sydney Sweeney also stars, while S.J. Clarkson will direct a script by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless.

With ‘Across: The Spider-Verse’ vacating its original October 7 release date this year, that has left room for Sony to put live-action/CGI musical adaptation of children’s book series ‘Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile’ in its place. Shawn Mendes voices the eponymous singing crocodile, while Will Speck and Josh Gordon direct and produce.
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April 22, 2022
‘Euphoria’s Sydney Sweeney Joins ‘Madame Web’

Sydney Sweeney in HBO Max’s ‘Euphoria.’

Sony is moving forward with its Spider-Man-associated movie universe and has added a new cast member to one of the more intriguing titles it has bubbling away. Sydney Sweeney, one of the stars of ‘Euphoria’, is joining ‘Madame Web’.

While Deadline’s report doesn’t specify who Sweeney will be playing, we do know she’s joining Dakota Johnson in the movie.

Johnson, who has been seen recently in the Oscar nominated ‘The Lost Daughter’ and indie movies ‘Am I OK?’ and ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’, is playing the title character, or at least a version of her.

Originally created by writer Denny O’Neil and artist John Romita Jr., Madame Web first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #210, which was published in November 1980.

Known as Cassandra Webb, she is usually depicted as an elderly blind woman suffering from a chronic neuromuscular disease that makes it difficult to move and breathe, and as such, she’s connected to a life support system that looks like a spider web. The clairvoyant character has telepathic, precognitive, and astral projection abilities and once helped Spider-Man find a kidnap victim.

It doesn’t exactly sound like the basis for a thrilling superhero outing, but Madame Web’s history has crossed path with various heroes. Plus, as you might expect from a comic book character, there has been more than one holder of the title.

Photo courtesy of Marvel Entertainment.

In Amazing Spider-Man #636, Madame Web transfers her powers into a younger woman, Julia Carpenter, who takes over the role and oversees storylines such as Spider-Island, which finds all of Manhattan’s population developing Spider powers.

With Johnson’s casting, we’d imagine she’ll play someone closer to the Carpenter character, though there’s plenty of scope for a very different sort of comic book adaptation. And Madame Web has always been tied to multiverse stories, so given the current cinematic fascination with that subject, it’s not far-fetched to think that that could factor in.

Whatever it turns out to be, handling the job of making the movie is ‘Jessica Jones’ and ‘Succession’ director S.J. Clarkson, who would make her film directing debut here.

The script comes from Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, who worked from an earlier draft by Kerem Sanga.

Sweeney has been having quite the career moment right now – she has been a standout on ‘Euphoria’ a series that is not short of memorable performances and scenes, and her role on Mike White’s ‘The White Lotus’ also saw her win acclaim.

She’s appeared in lead roles in ‘The Voyeurs’ and vampire tale ‘Night Teeth’ and is currently shooting crime drama ‘National Anthem’. Though Sweeney has been acting for more than a decade, ‘Euphoria’ has opened a lot of doors for her, and she was considering several offers alongside the ‘Madame Web’ role.

‘Madame Web’ has yet to confirm a release date, but the next Sony Marvel movie to arrive in theaters will be vampire adventure ‘Morbius’, starring Jared Leto sinking its fangs into screens on April 1st.
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March 17, 2022
Dakota Johnson in Talks for ‘Madame Web’

Dakota Johnson at the premiere of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’

Having won plenty of acclaim (and some awards nominations) for her role in Netflix’s ‘The Lost Daughter’, Dakota Johnson is looking to become a superhero in a future movie. She’s now in talks to star in Sony’s ‘Madame Web’.

The movie, which is part of the studio’s interconnected Marvel Spider-Man universe (not to be confused with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with which it links from time to time), has been in development for a while.

S.J. Clarkson, who has Marvel form with Netflix’s ‘The Defenders’ shows and has worked on shows including ‘Succession’ and ‘Made for Love’, is aiming to make her movie directorial debut. The script comes from Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, the ‘Dracula Untold’ and ‘The Last Witch Hunter’ writers who have fellow Spider-adjacent movie ‘Morbius’ due in theaters on April 1.

Madame Web as a Marvel Comics character was created by writer Denny O’Neil and artist John Romita Jr., first appearing in The Amazing Spider-Man #210, which was published in November 1980.

Known as Cassandra Webb, she is usually depicted as an elderly blind woman suffering from a chronic neuromuscular disease that makes it difficult to move and breathe, and as such, she’s connected to a life support system that looks like a spider web. The clairvoyant character has precognitive abilities and once helped Spider-Man find a kidnap victim.

Tom Holland in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’

She doesn’t sound like the basis for a compelling dynamic superhero movie… But wait! There’s more. As is so often the case with Marvel, there has been another version.

When Webb died, she passed her powers on to Julia Carpenter, who was the second incarnation of Spider-Woman and similarly became the second version of Madame Web. It’s unclear which version the film will focus on, but given Johnson’s age in relation to both characters, you figure she’ll play Carpenter. Or both if they slap aging make-up on her initially.

Sony originally announced the movie back in 2019, and it has moved through the tricky development process more smoothly (aside from obvious pandemic delays) than some of the company’s other planned Spider-projects. Aside from the successful ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ movie, which has spun-off two sequels (the first, ‘Across the Spider-Verse Part One’ is due out October 7, the second in 2023) and both ‘Venom’ films, Sony has had mixed fortunes with its Marvel movies.

The Jared Leto-starring ‘Morbius’ has been delayed several times, while others, including ‘Silver and Black’ which was to have featured Silver Sable and Black Cat, are stuck at the script stage. Still, Sony has Olivia Wilde working on an untitled movie, and projects based on Kraven the Hunter and Silk still moving forward.

‘Madame Web’ doesn’t yet have a release date, but it does at least seem like it’ll shoot this year.

Though Sony had been looking at a long list of names, Johnson jumped to the head of the queue likely thanks to strong work in ‘Lost Daughter’ and other movies that have received praise at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, including ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’ and ‘Am I OK?’. She will next be seen in Jane Austen adaptation ‘Persuasion’, which will be out this year.
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February 3, 2022