Marty Supreme

 

      Timothee Chalamet is at his charismatic best as Marty Mauser, the Marty in the title. He takes his acting to another level defining a character you will both love and hate. Marty is the over confident, arrogant, scheming, selfish, hero that you root for but want to slap across the face at the same time. His fast talking schemer is reminiscent of Adam Sandler's character in "Uncut Gems", another unlikeable "hero" which makes sense since both films were written by (along with Ronald Bronstein) and directed by Josh Safdie (with his brother Bennie on "Gems"). 

      Mr. Chalamet is so excellent in this role, you can forgive any minor flaws in the film itself. He is absolutely magnetic and carries this improbable (if it wasn't based on an actual person) story squarely on his shoulders. His character, Marty Mauser has lofty goals as a world class table tennis (otherwise known as Ping Pong) player and will stop at nothing to attain them. Marty is loosely based on Marty Reisman, a flamboyant New York table tennis star of the 1950's.

       The film co-stars Gwyneth Paltrow as fading actress, married to a millionaire, played by Kevin O'Leary, Odessa A'zion as Rachel, a married neighbor that gets involved with Marty, Tyler Okonma as Wally, Marty's best friend, Abel Ferrara as Ezra, a gangster, Fran Drescher as Marty's mom, Emory Cohen as Rachel's husband, Larry "Ratso" Sloman as Marty's Uncle, and Koto Kawaguchi as Endo, the Japanese table tennis champion. Sandra Bernhard and Isaac Mizrahi also have small parts.

        The film follows Marty through a series of misadventures with the goal of reaching Japan for the World Table Tennis championship. Mr. Safie faithfully recreates New York in the 1950's and populates his film with fascinating characters. The table tennis sequences are simply remarkable and while Mr. Chalamet must have developed a skill for the game, some of moves must have been helped by careful CGI or a stunt double player. While fun to watch, Mr. Safdie does, as writer and director, overserve the story with subplots that could have been shorter and stretch the film thin in the middle.

         That said, this is still supreme entertainment, served up by a magnificent performance by Mr. Chalamet. Catch it in a theater where it deserves to be seen on a big screen.