Rob Reviews "Marty Supreme"

Loosely based on the life of Marty Reisman, Marty Supreme is… a thing.

Timothée Chalamet plays the title character (whose last name is changed to Mauser to… protect the innocent?), a world-class table tennis player who will not let ANYTHING get in the way between him and becoming a world champion.  The problem is that the only actual thing getting in his way is… him.  Between the constant con jobs that make marks out of everyone around him regardless of who they are, the lies that continue to spin the web that puts his life out of control, and his obsession with table tennis, Marty is constantly doing his best to stay a step ahead of the chaos he is costing.

This is the longest two-and-a-half hours I have spent in a theater in quite a long time.  This film is nothing short of a SLOG, weighing itself down in con after con after con after lie after scheme after chase and so much more.  Perhaps it was the intention of director and co-writer Josh Sadie (in his first full-length feature after splitting with his brother) in order to add tension to this story to go slower than a turtle on a oil slick, but instead this frustrated me further as I looked at my watch and could not believe how much longer this had to go.

Unfortunately, that is the thing that makes this fall down my 2025 list as far as it does.  From a performance standpoint, Chalamet continues to show why he is one of the best in the business today and does so alongside solid performances by Odessa A’zion as his childhood friend that he gets a deeper entanglement with, Gwyneth Paltrow as an aging Hollywood actress that he gets into a dangerous game with and her husband (Kevin O’Leary), and Tyler the Creator in his feature debut as Marty’s best friend and sometime cohort in shenanigans.  Alongside a cast that includes Sandra Bernhard, Fran Drescher, Abel Ferrara, and even Penn Jillette, there is no actor in Marty Supreme that gave me any issue.  However, any all-star cast cannot make up for a script that spends way too much time going way too many directions and meanders its way through a less-than-a-year timeframe.

Add to that the use of ‘80s music in a film that takes place in the early ‘50s and a score that is heavily synth-laden, and I was taken out of things that much more.  As much as I love songs like Alphaville’s “Forever Young” and Tears For Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” it just felt odd in a period-specific story.  I will say that if they took the latter of the two and gave it a ‘50s spin, that would be a better fit, but that is as far as I am going to go there.

I was SO disappointed with this film that it almost made me angry on the drive home.  If there are any more than acting nominations here, it will make me shake my head and growl.  If you see this in an environment where you cannot pause it, I am not taking any responsibility here.  You have been warned.