By George & Josh Bate
Timothée Chalamet has not shied away from the fact that he wants to be “one of the greats” and win an Academy Award. Based on his performance in Marty Supreme, he’s never been closer.
Marking the solo directing debut of Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme loosely adapts the story of real-life American table tennis player Marty Reisman. Chalamet plays Marty Rauser, a shoe salesman in 1950s New York determined to reign supreme in the world of ping pong. Arrogant and charming in equal measure, Marty finds threats to his grand aspirations around every corner, yet remains laser-focused on achieving his dream.
After collaboratively creating six films, the Safdie brothers both depart ways from one another in 2025 to create period piece sports dramas of their own. While Benny Safdie’s the somber and contemplative The Smashing Machine inverted the sports genre to tell a tale of embracing losing rather than winning, Josh Safdie retains the frenzied chaos that made Good Time and Uncut Gems so exhilarating for a story about the blurry line between narcissism and the pursuit of greatness. In turn, Marty Supreme feels far more aligned with the Safdie brothers’ previous efforts than The Smashing Machine did, a film that, while sporting a strong lead performance from Dwayne Johnson, failed to inspire much excitement or thought. Unreservedly, the same cannot be said about the year’s most entertaining film, directed, written, produced, and edited by Josh Safdie.
In other hands, a 150 minute sports drama about ping pong would probably be exceedingly dull. But Marty Supreme is anything but. Safdie crafts a film with a propulsive energy that seamlessly leaps from scene to scene without a second to catch your breath. There’s always something going on, whether that be an enthralling table tennis match, a chaotic argument, or any number of other events that keep the film consistently engaging.
The bookends of the film unfold similarly to a traditional sports drama. We’re introduced to an aspirational, yet down-on-his-luck athlete, who attempts to achieve greatness in the sport he enjoys. We witness his determination and skill help him excel in a major championship, before a fall from grace requires him to work harder than ever to emerge triumphant. But Marty Supreme’s handling of sports drama tropes feels decidedly different than everything that’s come before it due to the energy and pacing Safdie imbues with his film. The period setting gives the film a unique visual flavor, both in production design and costumes, and would typically suggest a slower, more methodical film, although Marty Supreme is anything but slow.
Indeed, just as the Safdie brothers did in Good Time and Uncut Gems, Marty Supreme has its ensemble of fast-talking characters frequently speak over one another. In turn, every scene, even ones that skew more friendly and positive, evoke stress and a hastened heartbeat, in addition to giving the film a real urgency and sense of importance.
Contributing significantly to the frenetic energy of Marty Supreme is star Timothée Chalamet, who delivers a career-best and Oscar-worthy performance here. In a film full of fast talkers, Chalamet’s Marty talks faster than anyone. He’s charming and likable, at least at first, but also over-confident, kinetic, and, as eventually becomes quite clear, narcissistic. In many ways, he’s a distinctly American protagonist, encapsulating the very best and very worst of traits stereotypically held by Americans. In the aftermath of the Second World War, Marty captures the unrelenting drive so many admire about Americans, but he also is loud, bombastic, and has an inflated sense of self-importance. With Marty featuring in virtually every moment of the two and a half hour film, the audience is afforded ample time to assess and continually reassess how they perceive Marty as his decisions become increasingly self-centered and his life becomes more tumultuous. Chalamet deftly captures the nuances of Marty’s wavering moral compass and, most strikingly, the desire to fulfill a self-annoited prophecy to succeed. It’s by far the young actor’s most complex and enthralling performance – one that positions him firmly as the front-runner for the Best Actor Academy Award.
With Chalamet holding nothing back, Marty Supreme subverts conventions of the sports drama genre for the bulk of its runtime. As stated, the first and third acts of the movie play like more traditional sports drama fare, but the mammoth middle act operates very similarly to Uncut Gems and Good Time. Here, the film shelves the table tennis action as Chalamet’s lead returns to New York and desperately tries to secure funding to make the journey to Tokyo and participate in the table tennis world championship. Just like the Safdie brothers’ previous films, Marty Supreme puts our lead (and, in turn, the viewer) through an odyssey of anxiety. Things go from bad to worse for Marty time and time again – just when you think things are going to work out, some other derailment comes out of nowhere and screws everything up. Although at this point this narrative structure isn’t exactly novel, it’s executed with such technical craft and is so undeniably entertaining that it’s difficult to fault.
The rollercoaster of anxiety sees Chalamet’s Marty come up against a large ensemble cast, which includes established stars, first-time actors, and some really left-field players. Academy Award winner Gwyneth Paltrow came out of semi-retirement to play Kay Stone, a former Hollywood actress who falls under Marty’s charming trance. Paltrow’s Kay is the sole character in the film with a degree of calmness and composure, making her diametrically opposed to the insanity of Marty and everyone else in the story. She brings quiet restraint to her performance in scenes that find her and Chalamet engage in a sumptuous cat-and-mouse game where one tries to outwit the other.
Playing Paltrow’s husband is Kevin O’Leary, the billionaire known for his work on Shark Tank. The Safdies have a penchant for casting non-actors in their films, and do so again here with O’Leary, giving him a surprisingly sizable role in the process. O’Leary plays the wealthy industrialist Milton Rockwell very similarly to his on-screen persona in Shark Tank, and yet it works brilliantly for Safdie’s story.
Tyler, the Creator (credited as Tyler Okonma) makes his feature-film debut as well in Marty Supreme, bringing a naturalism to his performance in the same way that the real-life bail bondsman in Good Time and the real jewelers and Kevin Garnett in Uncut Gems did.
But the highlight of the supporting cast is Odessa A’zion, who also stars in Rachel Sennott’s comedy series I Love L.A. this year. A’zion plays Rachel, a childhood friend and current lover of Chalamet’s Marty. The first scene of the film sees the two lovingly embrace in the back of a shoe store, before a brilliant and unforgettable opening credits scene begins backed by Alphaville’s “Forever Young” and visuals of a sperm fertilizing an egg. From there, A’zion appears sporadically in the story, but makes her presence known every time she’s on-screen. The Until Dawn actress is warm, sweet, and everything Marty doesn’t deserve, yet somehow loves him nonetheless. Her commitment to Marty and the culmination of their storyline in the film gives Marty Supreme much-needed heart as the film is otherwise devoid of deeper, more serious and heartfelt emotion. The ending, while feeling somewhat undeserved and out-of-character, ultimately works due to the strength of these emotions and Chalamet’s performance.
VERDICT: 8.5/10
Marty Supreme is exhilarating, kinetic, bold, and, by quite some distance, the year’s most entertaining movie. Josh Safdie’s film propels through its 150 minute runtime by retaining the frenzied chaos of Uncut Gems and Good Time that keeps audiences at the edge of their seat and has our lead character experience one hardship after another. The bookends play much like a traditional sports drama, but the bulky middle act beautifully embraces this sense of chaos more than ever, creating a simultaneously hilarious and nail-biting rollercoaster for Chalamet’s Marty and, in turn, the viewer. Chalamet delivers a career-best performance as the aspiring table tennis champion, deftly navigating the nuances of narcissism amidst the pursuit of greatness in a manner that secures his position as frontrunner for the Best Actor Academy Award. Supporting actors Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin O’Leary, and Tyler Okonma all similarly excel in delivering natural performances that seamlessly fit into the tone and pace of Safdie’s film, but Odessa A’zion stands out the most with a warm and compassionate performance that aids in giving the film much-needed heart. The film may not flood one with emotion, outside of its admittedly moving ending, but nonetheless impresses with its technical brilliance, breakneck pacing, and, perhaps more than anything, Chalamet’s outstanding performance.