A ping pong match that bounces off the table and wins.
I just had an interview with a newcomer named Luke Manley, who jokingly told me not to disrespect the table tennis sport by calling it “ping pong.” If he wasn’t joking, then I’ll try to respect that in my review of “Marty Supreme,” but I know it’s the same sport and it works both ways.
While Ben Safdie went to direct “The Smashing Machine” on his own, his brother Josh went to direct “Marty Supreme” on his own. And like the Coen brothers going their own ways, as well as the Beatles breaking up, these filmmaking brothers work wonders together or separate. I can’t wait to see what they do next together or respectively.
Timothee Chalamet gives an unbelievably exceptional performance as Marty Mauser, who is inspired by the real life ping pong champ Marty Reisman. He’s an ambitious and mean Jewish young man, who risks a lot for greatness. He travels to different countries for the tournaments, but in Japan, he ends up losing in a match that he believes is fixed. He even rejects a job offer from the antisemitic businessman Milton Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary), who wants him to play against the country’s champ just to humiliate him.
Marty is already set to get his career on track. He has ping pong balls with the name “Marty Supreme” on them, with support from the father and son businessmen Christopher (John Catsimatidis) and Dion Galanis (there’s that Manley). He also has his rounds with his taxi driver friend Wally (Tyler, the Creator). And he also has two married lovers: the pet store employee Rachel (Odessa A’zion) and the celebrated actress and Rockwell’s wife Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow).
But he also has a number of problems. He has a selfish attitude, he steals money he is owed from a shoe store he works at, the police are up his tail, and he ends up involved with the criminal Ezra Mishkin (Abel Ferrara) and his dog. And he also has to get Rachel involved, and the fact that he impregnated here pushes things a little further.
With appearances from the likes of Fran Drescher, Sandra Bernhard, Philippe Petit, Penn Jilette, and Fred Hechinger, “Marty Supreme” is crazy, dangerous, wickedly funny, and daring. Yes, the mean behaviors can be overbearing, but other times, we’re able to see some originality. There are animals in the table tennis matches, a spanking paddle, wisecracks against antisemitism, and Chalamet stepping up his game.
He’s a young actor who knows how to adapt to various genres, whether we’re talking about family films (“Wonka”), Sci-Fi films (the “Dune” movies), or Louisa May Alcott film adaptations (“Little Women”). And he plays Marty with an unlikable personality and he’s very good at adapting to such a character. And the supporting work from Paltrow, Ferrara, and Tyler, the Creator really pushes the casting choices on the right path.
The time period in “Marty Supreme” is the 1950s, and yet, we get 80s hits like Tears for Fear’s “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” and they woven with the scenes. We’ve had rock music in “A Knight’s Tale” and I remember Greta Gerwig saying she had the cast of “Little Women” dancing to David Bowie music in the behind the scenes, so why not let “Marty Supreme” go 80s in the 50s?
It’s very rare we get ping pong or table tennis movies (I’m trying respect the sport, lol) like Tom Hanks playing the sport in “Forrest Gump” or Dan Fogler playing a battle of it in “Balls of Fury.” I guess we do need a little break from basketball or baseball movies, and “Marty Supreme” enters the game with crazy daring, kudos to Safdie and co-writer and frequent collaborator Ronald Bronstein.
In Select Theaters This Friday
Expanding Everywhere Christmas Day