I don’t care about mainstream sports. Football doesn’t matter, basketball is a nonissue, and baseball is met with a shrug.* Despite my father’s repeated attempts to raise an all-American son who loved to toss around the ol’ pigskin and would cheer lustily for the home team, what he got was someone who could talk at great length about both the Avengers and Martin Scorsese. 

Having said that, I adore niche sports. I enjoy the PFC.** Archery is awesome. Wheelchair rugby is one of the most kickass things I’ve ever seen. But my heart belongs to the late and lamented Great Outdoor Games. They appeared on ESPN many years ago, and I eagerly watched log rolling, speed climbing, dog agility, and perhaps my favorite of all, dock jumping. When you’re watching a dog haul ass and leap off a pier to achieve the longest jump possible, who cares about touchdowns?

Along with my disinterest in mainstream sports, I’m similarly apathetic about most sports movies. In order to grab me, a strong sports movie needs to display strong filmmaking craft, interesting characters, and something unique about the sports aspect. That might be why I clicked with Marty Supreme, a sports drama about a niche sport, but it’s only kind of a sports drama. 

We’re introduced to Marty Mauser (Timothee Chalamet), a young man with a dream. He lives in the bustling New York City of the 1950s, and his day job is working as a shoe salesman. Marty has a gift for gab. His customers love him. His coworkers…well, tolerate him, since he’s clearly out for himself and nobody else. Marty couldn’t care less, because the shoe store gig is nothing more than a means to an end.

Remember a moment ago when I said that Marty had a gift for gab? It’s more accurate to call him a world-class bullshitter. He’s legitimately, legendarily good at two things: bullshitting and table tennis. For a scrawny guy, Marty is a skilled table tennis athlete. He’s agile, accurate, and powerful. He also sees a future where table tennis competitions fill stadiums. Why shouldn’t he be a part of it? Why shouldn’t he be a star?

Through a blizzard of words and his own aptitude, Marty cons his way into a global ping pong tournament in London. As the American representative, he does well – very well. He comes this close to winning the whole thing, and he’s beaten by the quiet and focused Koto Endo (Koto Kawaguchi). Less than ten years after the end of World War II, the defeat of an American athlete by a Japanese athlete sends shockwaves through the world.

Marty goes home, burning for a chance to prove to himself that he’s a champion. He immediately begins hustling for any possible angle he can use. Is his affair with washed up movie star Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow) borne out of attraction or a way to use her tycoon husband Milton Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary)? Will his side hustle of ping pong hustling blow up in both his face and the face of his sometime partner Wally (Tyler The Creator)? Can he squirm out of a sticky situation involving a dog, a gangster (Abel Ferrera), and a trigger-happy farmer (Larry Sloman)? Will the fact that he’s knocked up his married best friend Rachel (Odessa A’zion) create further complications? Oh, hell yes.

Back in 2019, I reviewed Uncut Gems and wrote, “The Safdie Brothers have zero interest in making a crowd pleaser.” One of that film’s directors, Josh Safdie, seems to have ever so slightly modified his approach. As the sole director of Marty Supreme, Safdie has still made an anxiety-ridden film that follows a mouthy scumbag who creates as many problems as he solves. Large chunks of the film thrum with jangly energy, and its two and a half hour run time rockets by. Yet Safdie’s tone here is a little different from his work on Uncut Gems. It’s a little looser, funnier, and ever so slightly optimistic.***

Safdie and his co-writer Ronald Bronstein excel at showing character through action. While their screenplay has a lot of dialogue, mostly from the motormouthed Marty, they never fall into the “I’m going to explain to you what my motivations are” trap. Instead, we see Marty going for short and long-term goals, getting sidetracked, and nearly getting himself killed. It’s always clear what his objectives are, what the people around him are after, and what happens if he fails or succeeds. I also appreciated the facet of Marty’s character regarding his obsessive focus on table tennis/ping pong. You could make the same movie about a professional baseball player or hockey goalie, but zeroing in on this particular sport helps make it unique.

Just like Uncut Gems is an acting showcase for Adam Sandler, Marty Supreme is ultimately a vehicle for Timothee Chalamet. That doesn’t necessarily mean the rest of the cast are shoved offstage. I liked Gwyneth Paltrow’s resentful Kay, and Kevin O’Leary’s Milton is delightful, particularly a late scene where the worm truly turns. As Rachel, Odessa A’zion matches Chalamet’s intensity and predilection for bad decisions. As solid as they all are, Chalamet appears in virtually every scene, and he’s the engine that powers this rough beast. It’s a masterful performance, and we see Marty’s egomania, insecurity, rage, humor, and moments of unexpectedly quiet tenderness. If you look at his performance here, A Complete Unknown, and Dune, you’ll see three entirely unique people brought to life by world class skill. I don’t know that Chalamet will win an Oscar for this role, but sooner or later, he’ll win.

Marty Supreme is kind of about a guy with preternatural skill at table tennis. The fact that we’re not watching a guy obsess over touchdowns or RBIs makes the film more compelling. Really, though, we’re watching snippets of a very particular and chaotic life. We all know someone like Marty, and now, we can accurately say that he’s like someone out of a Safdie movie.

*I have to admit, hockey is pretty cool.

**I am, of course, referring to the Pillow Fight Championship, which you can learn more about here.

***Without spoiling the last few scenes, I will say I have my doubts that even those events would be enough to make Marty fundamentally change.

Tim Brennan Movie Critic

Tim has been alarmingly enthusiastic about movies ever since childhood. He grew up in Boulder and, foolishly, left Colorado to study Communications in Washington State. Making matters worse, he moved to Connecticut after meeting his too-good-for-him wife. Drawn by the Rockies and a mild climate, he triumphantly returned and settled down back in Boulder County. He's written numerous screenplays, loves hiking, and embarrassed himself in front of Samuel L. Jackson. True story.