HOLLYWOOD—I’m going to admit something; I struggled to get thru the drama “Marty Supreme.” It is a movie that runs a bit longer than it needed to be in my opinion, clocking in close to 2 hours and 30 minutes. About 30 minutes of that movie should have been trimmed off to increase the pacing of the movie to flow much better.
I want to give kudos to director and writer Josh Safdie who does something amazing with this movie. He finds a way to humanize this character for all purposes the viewer should hate. Marty portrayed to perfection by Timothee Chalamet is incredible in the role. I’m not sure if I will call this his best work, his portrayal of Bob Dylan was iconic a tinge higher than what unfolds in “Marty Supreme.” Why is that? The Bob Dylan biopic was a much better movie, where “Marty Supreme” seems to lack a strong focal point in my opinion.
The movie follows Marty, who has a passion for table tennis. He is pretty good at it, but Marty is having trouble financing his endeavors. He works as a shoe salesman at his uncle Murray’s shop. However, early in the movie the audience discovers Marty is a hustler and a bit of a con artist. He will screw whomever and whatever to get ahead to achieve his dreams.
He is a character you shouldn’t connect with, but as a viewer you do. Why? The struggle. Marty is a splitting image of any person in this world who has ever struggled to achieve something that means so much to him. Along with him for the journey is Rachel (Odessa A’zion), a childhood friend of Marty’s who is married and he just happens to be sleeping with. Yeah, that is cringe, but A’zion is riveting in the role. She is a character that just pops, and she brings this aura to the movie that you want to watch her on the screen and the shenanigans her character gets caught up in.
In his quest to become a table tennis icon, Marty manages to steal money to go to London, but he wants to live a lifestyle that he feels HE SHOULD be accustomed to. This is where he connects with flailing actress Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow). This is a meaty role for Paltrow and quite the departure from what we’ve seen from the actress. To be honest, it’s one of her best performances in years in my opinion. I wouldn’t be surprised if Paltrow potentially lands an Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actress race. I’m calling it right now.
Marty develops a sexual relationship with Kay, whose husband is ink-pen magnate Milton Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary). O’Leary is good in this role, I mean really good. It’s hilarious because he builds this relationship with Marty, but as a viewer, you think in the back of your mind as a viewer, there is NO WAY Milton doesn’t know Marty and Kay are hooking up? Why can I make that connection? There is a particular scene in the movie where Milton gets to put Marty in his place during a very public scene. I will not spoil the scene because it’s hilarious but somewhat jarring at the scene time.
There are a lot of surprises while watching this film, but at times I felt the movie was trying to do two things: be a sports drama, but also a character study. The character study aspect of this tennis player is more fascinating than the table tennis portion of it. Does that matter? To a degree, but I could almost have done without it, or I wish it was more fused in a way that wasn’t such a distraction from the stronger focal points of the narrative. Do you need to rush and go see “Marty Supreme?” No, but it’s a movie that once seen you will indeed think and talk about it because the acting is stellar and Chalamet proves he is one of the greatest young actors working in Hollywood right now.
