Review: 'Marty Supreme' casts a likable Timotheé Chalamet as a charmingly unlikable table-tennis champ
In “Marty Supreme,” Timotheé Chalamet is given the biggest test an actor can face — play the most unlikeable character imaginable in a way that will make audiences love you anyway — and darn if the kid doesn’t do just that.
Chalamet carries the movie, no easy task in a two-and-a-half hour period piece that director Josh Safdie fills to the brim with outlandish moments, sharp characters, a wealth of nontraditional acting talent and a completely original take on the underdog sports drama.
Chalamet plays Marty Mauser, who has a dream to be the greatest table-tennis player in the world. To hear him tell it, he already is the best, and he just needs the money to get to the great tournaments around the world to prove it. But this is 1952, and the people around him in Brooklyn think table tennis is a kid’s game, and not a serious sport.
In addition to being a dreamer, Marty also is a cad. In the stock room of the shoe store where he works, he’s having sex with Rachel Mizler (Odessa A’zion), who’s married to another man — and soon learns that she’s pregnant. He feels cheated by the store’s owner, Murray Norton (Larry “Ratso” Sloman), so he tries to break into Murray’s office and steal back the money he thinks he’s owed — which leads to a run-in with New York’s finest.
Marty manages to make it to London for a major tournament. He shows his table tennis skills, advancing to the final against a fearsome Japanese competitor, Koto Endo (played by Koto Kawaguchi). But his hijinks away from the table, complaining to a table tennis official (Pico Iyer) about the accommodations and then running up a huge hotel tab charged to the sport’s foundation, land him in more trouble.
In London, he also encounters a wealthy American couple. The husband, Milton Rockwell (played by “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary), owns a multi-million-dollar pen manufacturer who has an offer to bankroll Marty’s career, if he’s willing to sacrifice his integrity. The wife, Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow), is an actress on the downslope of her fame — with whom Marty, almost inevitably, has an affair.
That’s probably enough synopsis to provide the gist of the breakneck pace of the script, by Safdie and Ronald Bronstein, who also co-wrote “Good Time” and “Uncut Gems,” both movies Safdie directed with his brother, Benny.
I haven’t mentioned the eclectic array of supporting performers in this movie, including Fran Drescher as Marty’s mother, Tyler Okonma (aka Tyler the Creator) as his cab-driving buddy, and other roles for NBA legend George Gervin, filmmaker Abel Ferrara, Vegas showman Penn Jillette and fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi. It’s like the casting director Jennifer Venditti was playing her own game of Mad Libs, and somehow it all works.
The gem among the supporting cast is A’zion, who brings a ferocity to Rachel, a woman scorned who won’t put up with her jerk husband but also won’t let Marty get away with his irresponsible antics. A’zion is only in the movie for a few short stretches, but she electrifies every scene she’s in.
From those opening scenes in Brooklyn to a riveting finale in Japan, a rematch between Marty and Endo that’s as unpredictable as it is inevitable, Chalamet charms his way into the audience’s heart. Marty may do unspeakable things and treat everyone around him like rungs on his ladder to table-tennis success, but Chalamet makes it all feel alright. He plays Marty like an overgrown puppy who knows he’s so cute that he can crap anywhere and everyone will still find him adorable — and “Marty Supreme” hits its stride at the exact moment when Marty starts to realize that not everyone thinks what he’s doing is cute.
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‘Marty Supreme’
★★★1/2
Opens Thursday, December 25, in theaters everywhere. Rated R for language throughout, sexual content, some violent content/bloody images and nudity. Running time: 150 minutes.