To the delight of teenage and 20-year-old women worldwide, Timothée Chalamet’s talent has not run dry despite an exhaustive box office run that began with “Beautiful Boy” and “Call Me By Your Name.”
The actor’s self-proclaimed “pursuit of greatness” that he declared after winning “Best Actor” at the Screen Actors Guild awards for his performance as Bob Dylan has finally manifested to that greatness he desired. Marty Mauser, his orange ping-pong ball dreams and Josh Safdie’s guidance was all Chalamet needed to make this race to the top a definitive finish. It can’t be denied that even as a character obnoxiously overwrought with flaw, Chalamet can make it all a worthwhile watch.
“Marty Supreme” has been the gift that keeps on giving since its initial release on Christmas Day. The story of a 1950s table tennis wannabe in the shadow of self-inflicted and socially implicated chaos makes the tales of winners fawn in its presence. The loser Mauser is in his life, yet his persistence for the spotlight makes him a beacon of modern hustle culture and an unforgettable character study. To the tune of an ‘80s action film score and needle drops from “Tears for Fears” and “Alphaville,” this is the underdog Hollywood has been searching for in its string of musical biopics.
This film is no major departure for the sure-fire film language of the Safdies. Josh Safdie managed to recreate the successes of “Good Time” and “Uncut Gems,” with a story that, as disjointed as it can be, is worthwhile by the climax. Whiplash from Mauser’s dog-napping escapades to pen salesman and ping-pong championships are a spectacle to endure alongside the titular Marty, and a pleasant one at that.
The anxiety that I felt as all went wrong is a welcome heart-racing adventure, akin to watching a horror flick. Safdie’s style has ensured that the hurricane tearing through the casts’ lives is a disaster you cannot help but watch while white-knuckling your armrest.
A film packed with this much action has to be backed by a cast up to the challenge, and the world was not ready to see the performances coaxed out of industry veterans, like Gwenyth Paltrow as Kay Stone, or nepo-baby Odessa A’zion. The two leading ladies made the most of their shared screentime with the showstopping Chalamet, with A’Zion as Rachel Mizler being the only performance to truly stand toe-to-toe with him.
Mizler’s journey gets about as hectic as you can imagine for a woman eight months pregnant. She was given no boring escapade; from her crucial first scene and subsequent biology lesson for audiences in the title sequence, to the final glance she gives Mauser after giving birth. Where the film fails, A’Zion, and many other characters are in its script. It takes imagination to get behind the idea that Mizler, among other characters like Wally (Tyler Okonma) and Ezra Mishkin (Abel Ferrera), would be dumb enough to fall into the same failures as Mauser in the first place.
The only person able to outpace Mauser is Milton Rockwell, played by real life industry giant Kevin O’Leary. A performance from an unlikely actor, O’Leary is given the upper-paddle on Chalamet in contrast to any other character, even his table tennis rivals he legitimately beats. Rockwell swings in right when you think that the script has been too lenient on Mauser, and doles out punishments from a bare behind beating to a half-time show for The Harlem Globe Trotters. For a protagonist as insufferably indulgent as Mauser, a reminder of where he lands on the totem pole was always welcome.
The irony of this film cannot be lost on modern audiences though. Much of this film is Chalamet channeling his 2026 competitive view on artistry onto the screen. I have never been left wondering if the press I am seeing ahead of a film is an ironic take on method acting until this modern stretch of Hollywood blockbusters. In the same way we are all wondering why Ariana Grande is talking like Glinda the Good, I am wondering if the hustle culture Chalamet is sporting in his “Marty Supreme” jacket and being featured on EsDeeKid’s new song “4 Raws Remix” is real.
Either way, the untraditional campaign has made an A24 indie film, without any existing franchise or source material guiding its story, an instant hit, garnering him another year of award show sightings.
The most egregious part of an otherwise exceptional viewing experience is that this film didn’t come with a warning that its paddle-slinging protagonist may bear a striking resemblance to many modern women’s narcissistic ex-boyfriends.
