A One Mann’s Movies review of “Marty Supreme” (2025, 3.5*, 15).
I’m talking about Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet)… the anti-hero in Josh Safdie’s latest film “Marty Supreme”. (Why? Who else did you think I was talking about??)
This one is a really difficult one to rate, since on the one hand Mauser is just SUCH a dislikable and unpleasant individual that it is impossible to feel any warmth or empathy with him: I really couldn’t have cared if he had succeeded or not in his quest for fame and fortune in the world of professional table tennis (or, if Boris Johnson is reading this, ‘wiff-waff’) . But on the other hand, the ride in getting to the end of the film is so utterly chaotic and entertaining that I can’t not recognise that.
I should comment that the Illustrious Mrs Movie Mann, who saw this with me, took a MAJOR dislike to the film: forced herself to avoid it by sleeping through a big chunk of it and rated it just 1.5 stars, “and that’s being generous”.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
It’s New York, 1958. Shoe-salesman Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet) is undeniably a great table tennis player but has a maniacal obsession with being crowned the Worldwide champion. His ego and narcissism know no bounds as he tramples through every obstacle in his way.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC web site: “Strong language, sex, nudity, injury detail, violence.”)
Talent:
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion, Larry ‘Ratso’ Sloman, Rebecca Mauser, Kevin O’Leary, Abel Ferrara, Ralph Colucci, Tyler the Creator, Luke Manley.
Directed by: Josh Safdie.
Written by: Josh Safdie & Ronald Bronstein.
Running Time: 2h 29m.
Summary:
Positives:
- Has an entertainingly chaotic energy to it.
- Timothée Chalamet gives a brilliant performance supported by Odessa A’zion and Gwyneth Paltrow.
- The quirky score.
Negatives:
- It’s over-long and exhausting.
- What’s with the orange ball?
- The needle-drops are confusingly inappropriate.
Full Review of “Marty Supreme”:
Exhaustingly chaotic.
This movie reminded me a little bit of “Caught Stealing” from last year in being a fairly chaotic downhill toboggan of a film that leaves you feeling a bit wrung-out and exhausted after two and a half hours. As well as the main plot of the film, Safdie takes us down so many different side-alleys including an adulterous pregnancy for the poor Rachel Mizler (a brilliant Odessa A’zion); an adulterous and age-defying affair with the film star Kay Stone (an also impressive Gwyneth Paltrow); the development and promotion of an innovative orange table tennis ball; and a literal shaggy-dog story after Mauser’s bath falls through the ceiling onto a gangster (Abel Ferrara) and his dog in the apartment below! Phew!
Unfortunately, a lot of these avenues feel hopelessly under-mined and unfulfilled. The table tennis ball – after which the whole film is named! – feels like an irrelevant after-thought. Kay’s husband, pen-magnate Milton Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary), never finds out about the affair which feels like a dramatic miss and would have seen Mauser get more than a paddle to his backside! And we are left to presume whether or not Mauser and Rachel have any sort of future together.
The only stories that ever get really bottomed out are the table tennis championships and the shaggy dog story (although we never do know what happens to the dog… at least we know he won’t go hungry!).
A vile individual.
Mauser is very loosely based on the real-life US table tennis star Marty Reisman (curiously, his memoir “The Money Player” is not credited with an “inspired by” in the IMDB writing credits). This Mauser is what we British might call an “utter bounder and a cad”! He is the very worse sort of American: loud, opinionated, narcissistic, egotistical, adulterous and thoroughly unpleasant.
Some of the things he does (jumping on a plane to Japan when his priorities should be elsewhere) and some of the things he says (a comment about Auschwitz is jaw-droppingly offensive) are unbelievably crass. His egotism shines through when he claims that Rachel cannot POSSIBLY be pregnant with his baby since he practices his 10-second Kegel exercises when he cums without protection! (The pregnancy is nicely demonstrated in the clever opening titles with sperm burrowing into the egg that then transforms into a ping-pong ball).
Mauser is also utterly criminal in his activities, with charges that could be brought against him, just in the nine months or so shown in this film, being adultery (a crime in most US states, including New York, in 1958), arson, fraud, armed robbery, leaving the scene of a homicide and (since I couldn’t do a headcount at the petrol station) potential man’s laughter (sic… “must have been quite a joke”).
Chalomet is superb.
This is not to take anything away from the performance of Timothée Chalamet which is superb. He delivers the role with a manic energy that just won him the Best Actor at last Sunday’s Critic’s Choice Awards. He may now be one of the front runners in the Acting category for the other awards.
I find Chalomet a curious individual as an actor. Is he really a sex symbol ladies? I find him so scrawny looking that I personally can’t see it. In fact, one of (many) things I found difficult to swallow about this film is how or why he would be able to get sex with either Rachel or (particularly) Kay. With the cougar-antics going on in the shower between Mauser and Kay I was thinking, “well, he must have something going for him to be able to do this!”
The score is both a plus and a minus for me.
The score by Safdie regular Daniel Lopatin is nothing if not striking. Matching the chaotic energy of the film, it is very much in your face and I liked it very much. (Contrary to that, the Illustrious Mrs Movie Mann found it strident and intrusive.)
Where the music lost me though was in the choice of needle drops, including two tracks from Tears for Fears, which took me right out of the nice 1958-vibe that the film’s production design had worked so hard to establish. In particular, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” at the end of the film felt wildy inappropriate.
Summary Thoughts:
It’s for sure a memorable film, but perhaps for the reason of disliking the lead character quite so much. But it is a chaotically entertaining film nonetheless
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9gSuKaKcqM
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