'Marty Supreme' Review
- Erica Richards
- 17 hours ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 3 hours ago
Release Date: 12/25/25 [Cinemas]
Genre: Drama. Sport.
MPAA: Rated R.
Distributor: A24.
The Verdict: A Must-See
I love sports-based movies. There are certain sports that are perfect for movie making - the obvious: baseball, football, basketball and of course, hockey. I love when a director branches out to a story about other sports, though, and especially those non-team sports like swimming, tennis, wrestling or boxing.
Imagine all of the anxiety driven moments of Uncut Gems (2019) and paddle sport fueled intensity of Challengers (2024) and you have one of the top and most talked about films of 2025, Marty Supreme, a ping-pong movie directed by Josh Safdie. Yes, ping-pong. That game you played in your friend’s basement in high school and then eventually used as a table for beer pong when you graduated to college. Some people may say this film is not about the sport of ping-pong, and instead centered around greed, selfishness, and determination. Marty would probably correct me to refer to the sport as table tennis, so I will do so from here on out.
Timothée Chalamet plays the titular character, a young American table tennis prodigy who we quickly discover is a fast-talking, will refuse to take no for an answer type of guy who will completely exhaust you before he gets what he wants at whatever cost. He is focused on only his motives and nothing will stand in his way, so much so that the film lens might as well have been a tunnel to Marty’s mind. The audience always knows exactly where Marty is going because he is unabashed in his decision making, causing us to stir in our seats and take deep breaths as we endure the consequences of his actions. Marty needs money to get to a tournament in Japan. Marty works at his uncle’s shoe store for money, but he is always scheming, gambling, and taking risks to fund his trip. He of course ends up swallowing up people along the way, like the tornado that he is, spitting them out and discarding them along his route to Japan. One of his victim’s, a childhood friend and lover, Rachel (played by Odessa A’zion–who is incredible and quickly becoming one of my favorite actors today) risks her life and marriage to help Marty fulfill his dream. Marty–and Chalamet’s performance, for that matter–prove that he can get inside your head and make you desire what he desires. Rachel was caught up in Marty’s dedication and determination so much so that all she wanted was to get the money to fund his trip too, also taking ridiculous and dangerous risks along the way. Her character works because she is so believable in her love and unconditional support of Marty’s dream. I never doubted for a moment that Rachel was 100% committed to Marty even though she was almost an after thought to him for the first 2/3rds of the film.
The other victim Marty crosses in his path is Kay Stone–a has-been actress played remarkably by Gwyneth Paltrow. This easily could have been the case where Paltrow makes a fun cameo-like appearance and is never seen again in the story. I loved what Safdie does here, prolonging her return in the runtime, making us wonder if that storyline has run its course and is over. But no–again, her character is so believable because it is developed and layered and once more Marty has another woman wrapped around his fingers. She is willing to risk her marriage, career, and more to do whatever it takes to get Marty to his goal.
There are so many other moments and storylines that would take too much time to mention, but Safdie weaves them together flawlessly–Marty attempting to create and manufacture orange colored ping-pong balls, a kidnapped dog owned by a mob boss, a foiled gambling plan, stolen and crashed cars, and the list goes on. I would also be remiss to not mention the incredible Fran Drescher as Marty’s mother–knowing she was in this alone made me want to see it!
The thing I love most about a film like this is that you become invested and rooting for a character you would not like if you knew them in real life. Marty is completely exhausting as a person and sitting with him for 2 hours on screen leaves you feeling like you ran a marathon. He pushes himself to the end of the rope, dangling there and always finding more grip and strength to hold on to the finish. Surprisingly, the story has a sweet, happy, and downright emotional ending that makes this crazy journey worth it.
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