Reviews are in for Marty Supreme — and they hint at a big awards season for Timothée Chalamet.
The A24 feature is directed by Josh Safdie (Uncut Gems, Good Time), who also wrote the screenplay with his longtime collaborator Ronald Bronstein. Chalamet stars as Marty Mauser, a born hustler and talented ping-pong player, who is loosely based on the real-life American table tennis champion Marty Reisman.
The film, which had a surprise screening at the New York Film Festival in October, has received an impressive 95 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes as of Tuesday afternoon. And in addition to the movie’s overall praise, Chalamet, in particular, is receiving Oscar buzz for his work in the picture. The Dune actor previously told The Hollywood Reporter that he spent years training to play the sport.
Read on to see what critics are saying about the film, which opens in theaters on Dec. 25 and stars Gwyneth Paltrow; Tyler, The Creator; Kevin O’Leary; Fran Drescher; and Odessa A’zion.
THR‘s chief film critic David Rooney, writes in his review, “This genre-defying original is an exhilarating sports comedy, a scrappy character study, a thrumming evocation of early ‘50s New York City — plus a reimagining of all those things. Think of it as Uncut Gems meets Catch Me If You Can and maybe you’re halfway there.” Rooney also adds that the film is “a kinetic portrait of a life in perpetual motion, Marty Supreme is a wonder. Calling something ‘a wild ride’ is one of the most hackneyed quote-whore favorites — see also: ‘What a ride!’ ‘The thrill ride of the summer!’ and ‘A nonstop rollercoaster ride!’ — but for this wraparound sensory experience, it’s a neat fit.”
Rooney also praises Paltrow’s performance, which marks her acting return after a five-year hiatus, calling it, “some of her best work. Playing a woman who has traded personal fulfillment for material comfort and security as a trophy wife in a loveless marriage, she taps into a melancholy, fractured grace that recalls her role in The Royal Tenenbaums,” he writes. “It’s a lovely performance.”
The New York Post‘s Johnny Oleksinski writes, “It’s cinematic Mountain Dew. You’ll be wired for the entire two-and-a-half hours,” in his review before adding, “It makes you laugh hard and often, and even blush a bit. There’s ample heart and passion in Marty’s messy race to the top. And the 1950s Big Apple ensemble is so authentic it’s as if the filmmakers kidnapped a downtown deli. What a winner Marty Supreme is. Safdie, his team and especially his ace star are serving the best movie of the year.”
Clarisse Loughrey at The Independent praises Chalamet’s performance. “If Marty Supreme exists to prove that Timothée Chalamet could have easily kicked it with the New Hollywood icons of the ’70s, the Harvey Keitels and the Gena Rowlandses, then point proven. He’s truly one of our greatest talents,” she writes in her review. “Chalamet jerks his limbs around and leans in hungry, and he has the same irresistible, volatile energy that drove those early Al Pacino performances. The way the camera closes in on pockmarked skin, an elegantly etched unibrow and permanent wireframe glasses, only draws our attention to the actor’s eyes, where, like Pacino, all the vulnerability lies.”
BBC’s Caryn James writes, “Chalamet’s performance as Marty Mauser is so engaging that you can put his offscreen antics aside. And while last year his performance as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown was better than the film itself, Marty Supreme is as fresh, funny and exhilarating to watch as its hero,” in her review. “The film is full of unexpected turns. It appears to be a sports film but is actually about what a screw-up Marty is.”
The Guardian‘s Peter Bradshaw writes, “Marty Supreme doesn’t behave like a sports movie: there are no training montage sequences, no scenes in which Marty explains his technique in voiceover. … It is rather that the film is itself ping-pong; the rhythm and spirit of table tennis is in every scene and the mesmeric effect of the spectacular, clattering, dizzying back-and-forth. Marty Supreme is on its own spectrum of determination and emotional woundedness, and Chalamet hilariously enacts an unstoppable live-wire twitch, powered by indignation and self-pity.”
Jamie Graham from Empire magazine writes, “In a film of rousingly intense performances (right down to all the grizzled non-actors who inhabit bustling New York), the star is the standout, larger than life despite keeping everything coiled and contained. When Tears For Fears’ ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’ plays on the soundtrack, you might recall that this is an actor who’s openly stated that he’s in ‘pursuit of greatness‘ and desires to win an Oscar. This could be his moment.”
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