Film Review: MARTY SUPREME (2025): Josh Safdie Directs Timothée Chalamet To an Oscar-Worthy Performance in A Stunning Masterwork
Marty Supreme Review
Marty Supreme (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Josh Safdie, written by Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie and starring Timothée Chalamet, Odessa A’zion, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin O’Leary, Abel Ferrara, Fran Drescher, Larry ‘Ratso’ Sloman, Tyler the Creator, Sandra Bernhard, Emory Cohen, Johnny Zito, Ralph Colucci, George Gervin and Koto Kawaguchi.
A film of the highest caliber, director Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme features the year’s best performance by a male actor in a leading role. Timothée Chalamet was born to play Marty Mauser, a hustler among hustlers with the dream to go all the way in the sport of table tennis. Safdie’s unparalleled style commandeers much of the movie which takes Marty out of his element and into several different scenarios which thrill and entertain the audience in such a way that viewers will be on pins and needles watching to see if Marty will actually make it to the competition to defeat the Tokyo player who initially beat him at his game.
It’s all a lot more complicated than it sounds and the film sets itself in New York for a good chunk of the duration of the picture. This is the type of movie another Marty, Scorsese, might have made in his prime. However, Marty Supreme is so smart, gritty and nerve-wracking in such a unique way that even though the master, Scorsese, himself, might have served as an inspiration, enough creativity was employed to make this film a wholly unique entity.
This film opens with the song “Forever Young” played to some sperm traveling to an egg after Marty engages in steamy sex with a long time companion, Rachel Mizler (Odessa A’zion), who works in a pet store. Marty actually works at a shoe store where his boss (Larry ‘Ratso’ Sloman) wants to make him the manager. Business cards have already been printed with Marty’s name, but our lead character is holding out for something better. These opening scenes reel the viewer in. One can wonder if it’s going to be light or heavy, but the picture turns out to be something so substantial that it walks the lines between comedy, action and drama to the greatest possible degree of success.
A lot happens here and the less you know going in the better. A little less than midway through the two-and-a-half hour film, a taxi-cab driving friend of Marty’s, Wally (Tyler the Creator), ends up getting involved in a situation with Marty where our lead character ultimately tries to conduct a hustle of sorts on a group of guys and a criminal, Ezra Mishkin (Abel Ferrara in the most inspired casting choice in the whole entire movie) who is attached to his pet dog. Backing up just a bit, Marty sits in a bathtub at one point that crashes down into Ferrara’s character’s apartment down below and all hell breaks loose in a fashion that one would expect from the always fascinating helmer, Josh Safdie.
The heart of the story lies in the fact that Marty wants to be recognized for his talents and seeks out the help of Milton Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary, very effective), a wealthy man with a pen business and an actress for a wife, Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow of Shakespeare in Love). Milton wants Marty to lose at a table tennis competition to maintain the status quo, so to speak, and when Marty rejects his offer to do that, he finds himself later begging Milton for help which results in Marty taking an ass-beating. Quite literally, I might add.
Don’t forget. Rachel is now pregnant and her husband is supposedly not treating her right even though he thinks Marty’s forthcoming baby is actually his own. When Rachel shows up with a black eye, it leads Marty to clock him in an inspired moment within the picture. All being said, the movie works best as Marty and Wally hustle some guys for some cash who come back to claim their money and Marty loses Ferrara’s character’s dog in the chaos. Rachel tries to help Marty recoup some cash to get to Tokyo for his final match which he’s supposed to lose, but this movie has some wild cards up its sleeve which the audience will greatly enjoy. That dog is a genius key ingredient in the plot.
In the interim, Kay and Marty begin a torrid affair. At one point, one of Kay’s necklaces goes down the drain in the shower and Marty, after recovering it expecting to trade it for some quick cash, gets a hilarious lesson from the person he tries to sell it to. When Kay offers Marty a necklace that is actually worth money to pay for his trip to Tokyo, the police catch the pair fooling around in the park and Marty must surrender it or get arrested. When they turn the necklace over to the cops, Marty humorously asks Kay for another necklace to fund his trip.
The ladies on-screen are all top-notch. Fran Drescher co-stars in the film as Marty’s mother, Rebecca, and the actress more than acquits herself admirably in a small, but pivotal, role in the movie. Paltrow gets some meaty scenes and makes the most of every moment she’s in as her character believes Marty is a joke at times, but she still gets turned on by him sexually which creates some steamy scenes on-screen in between the tense action sequences. A’zion is the movie’s MVP. Rachel is a three-dimensional character willing to put her life at risk to help the father of her soon-to-be-born baby. A’zion and Paltrow divide the screen time with Chalamet almost equally and it’s anyone’s guess whether Paltrow or A’zion should end up with a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at next year’s Oscars. Both are deserving.
Marty Supreme is Chalamet’s movie right from the word-go and he’s a sure contender for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Safdie’s confident direction leads Chalamet places he’s never been before as an artist. Chalamet ably becomes this hustler who is trying to make his way in life the right way to fulfill his dreams even though he’s doing everything he shouldn’t do to make his dreams a reality. This is Chalamet’s best and most nuanced work to date and the actor is more than capable of running away with the movie. Don’t forget Ferrara in his key supporting role. He is a living legend and certainly gets some scenery to chew later in the picture.
At the conclusion, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” plays on the soundtrack as Marty has fulfilled some of his lifelong quests and has suffered immensely along the way in order to do so. If everybody wants to rule the world, Marty’s grasp on his own attempt to rule his own world becomes, simply put, one of the most entertaining movies ever made. Marty Supreme is a masterwork which is full of unnerving intensity and it just doesn’t let up. As its scenes unfold in one unpredictable manner after another, you don’t have to give two you know what’s about table tennis to enjoy this movie. It’s tailor-made so that anyone who likes great movies will absolutely love it.
Rating: 10/10
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