Marty Supreme is a thousand ping pong balls hitting the screen

Marty Mauser is the US champion of table tennis and is on a clear path to become the world champion, he just has to get a few people out of the way to achieve his monumental destiny; a may or may not be his pregnant childhood friend, some business partners, a hustling old friend, husband of said pregnant friend, a hypochondriac mother, an ink company ceo, a nosey uncle, an undervaluing table tennis organization, a fading movie star, a dog loving gangster, and a mysterious opponent with a new paddle— all schmucks who don't know who they are messing with.

If this sounds like a lot it's because it really is, Josh Safdie and Ronald Bronstein packed this script like a clown car with every single character in the world to drive the point that Marty has everyone on the hook and he will drop them all to achieve his dream— the only thing missing is an interesting motivation for Marty. I love a scumbag film as much as the next genre film fiend but when the character does not carry any psychological background or weight as to why he wants to win so bad I have almost zero care to keep following him by the halfway point of this film. There are a handful of really great moments in this film like the collapsing bathtub scene and the farmhouse incident but it mostly feels like Safdie and Bronstein were bouncing "and who next" back and forth between each other like a ping pong ball that lost its point of the game to begin with.

Timothee Chalamet does his best to be witty and charming but for the most part it feels like he just hopping around while yelling fast running over any relationship that could be built between him and others. I know that this is the premise of the film but theres no sting of broken hearts because it never seemed that Marty had an honest relationship with anyone in his life so just like Marty I don't care who he screws over next. Honestly a handful of the characters Marty bulldozes are more absorbing (and better played); Abel Ferrara as Ezra the mysterious gangster who will do anything to get his dog back and Odessa A'zion as the pregnant childhood friend— following either one of them would make a much more interesting watch than Marty.

Marty Supreme feels like 4 good movies slammed into one messy film that doesn't work overall. We could have had the rise of Marty the ping pong hustler to US champion with Wally the cab driver partner, Marty the fish out of water ping pong player going international getting in over his head beginning an affair with an older movie star while a pregnant girlfriend waits back in the states, or Marty the ping pong player who owes money to the mob for his failed business that he left some spiteful partners on the hook for. The sports aspect of the film really doesn't work with all this hectic energy as well by the time Marty actually gets his redemption match the viewer has no stakes on the match just like its players which makes each cgi ball flying around point feel pain stakingly long and breathless in the I could care less kind of way. By the time Marty gets his redemption we finally get to see his one character growth moment and before we can even groan in frustration of knowing nothings stopping him from falling right back into his old ways, the credits roll.

Endless tension and one crazy moment after another doesn't work for some and doesn't automatically equate to a good film, Marty Supreme is a thousand ping pong balls hitting the screen hoping one will stick but the filmmakers completely forgot they bounce. Safdie needs to learn to let the film breathe once in a while and give his characters some space and truly develop as a character— and if he can't maybe its time the Safdie brothers both make films together once again because singles matches aren't their speed.

★ ★ ★