Chalamet Is Supreme, But Table Tennis Is Not

            Over the past couple of months, Marty Supreme has been on one crazy marketing tour, and they did not do it in the typical way with a press junket. Although Timothee Chalamet did make some public appearances, they did it through more untraditional ways. Chalamet released a marketing meeting video, where he played a prank on all the members on the team, there has been a large amount buzz about the jacket, and Chalamet has been in some rap videos as well. All of this led to some serious hype and on top of that, the critics have been raving about this movie.

Marty Supreme follows Marty Mauser, an aspiring number one table tennis player in the world. His first tournament is the London Open, and if he does well enough, he will make it to the world championship in Tokyo. Marty cruises through the opening rounds showboating as he goes, and then he makes it to the championship, where he must face Endo from Japan. Despite his best effort, Marty did not stand a chance, and he went home with silver, but he did make an important relationship with actress Kay Stone while he was over there.

            Sadly, training is not the only aspect of table tennis Marty must worry about, but he also needs funding. He robbed his uncle’s shoe store so that he could make it to London, and now he needs to find a way to get money for his trip to Tokyo. Kay Stone’s husband, Milton Rockwell, is the owner of a pen company, and he offers to fly Marty over to Japan, but he must intentionally lose to Endo in an exhibition match sponsored by the pen company. Marty is too pompous to take this offer, and instead he falls into a loop of failing heists in an attempt to make money.

            It is clear from the start that Marty is a con man, and he is willing to do anything to achieve his own personal goals, and he does not like to take any personal hits along the way. Even when he finds out that the girl he has been seeing, Rachel, is pregnant, he blames everyone but himself. Multiple times, he even has friends help him out to try and get money, but when it starts to turn sideways, Marty just throws them under the bus.

            At the end of the movie, Marty must pay his penance. He literally begs Rockwell for the flight over to Japan, and Rockwell says that he will take him, but he gets to spank Marty with the paddle, and he agrees. Once in Japan, Marty finds out that he is banned from the tournament even if he pays the fine he owes from his poor behavior in the British Open, and his only way to prove he is the best is to beat Endo in the exhibition match, which he does after making a big scene about how the first match was a sham, then he flies home to see if his baby survived after Rachel was shot before he left.

            When he sees his son, he starts to cry. Some interpret this as him finally growing up, taking accountability, and now he is going to be responsible. I on the other hand have a more cynical view. I do think he is excited by the birth of his son, but I do not think this is going to transform him as much as everyone might think. He did some pretty deplorable things in the lead up to the championship, so now that he has a kid he is going to stop being an adulterous dirt bag? I think not. Maybe eventually, but definitely not immediately. People do not change overnight, except for the Grinch and Scrooge.

            Marty was the definition of at all costs. He had ambition to the hundredth degree. Everyone has ambitions to a certain extent, but most people have a reasonable limit where they will give up. Not Marty. At one point, his bathtub fell through the floor and crushed a rich guy’s arm while he was washing his dog. Thankfully, the dog was okay, but instead of being a decent human, Marty took the dog, and he was going to ransom it back to the owner for money to help him get to Japan. Instead, he lost the dog when he got into a fight after hustling some dudes out of their money in a table tennis match.

            The final dog confrontation was the most intense part of the movie. The dog ended up at some rural home, and Marty had tried to get it earlier, but the man refused to give him the dog, but now the rich guy had pregnant Rachel, so Marty took him and his goon out to the rural house where the dog was, with Rachel being held captive in the back seat.

Of course, it went wrong, but Marty ended up unscathed. The dog survived too, but everyone else took some damage. Including Rachel, who got shot in her upper chest, this avoiding the baby, but causing enough stress to induce labot. Honestly considering this film was made by a Safdie brother, I just assumed everyone was going to die in this shoot out, but instead Marty got to leave his girl behind in the hospital not knowing how she was and went to Japan.

            Many people are calling this the best film of the year, and as you can tell from above, it is definitely engrossing and pulsating. The tempo is high, and it never slows. The two and a half hour run time flies by, but I did not love the story. Timothee was amazing. He stole the show. He played the role of swindling dirt bag incredibly well. He also walked the line of likeability. It makes you question why you are rooting for this guy, but somehow, I could not help myself even when I did not want to do so.

            The table tennis aspect of it did not sell me though. The back and forth was impressive, and they really looked like athletes, but even with all of the tension and back story, I could not fully get into that aspect of the story. I know Marty basically had nothing, but he was willing to throw what little he had away for a redemption that only he really cared about. It just all felt like a little much. It was entertaining for sure, and the acting by everyone involved was incredible, but I was just not buying it the same way other people did.

            I have seen two other Safdie brothers’ movies, Uncut Gems and Good Time. Uncut Gems was a part of the incredible run of films that came out in 2019, and it was great. It is just straight stress for the whole time, and something similar can be said for Good Time. This film was clearly trying to replicate that level of stress as well, but I never got there. The Safdies have made two separate films this year, I guess pursuing their own passions, and although this film was better than The Smashing Machine, I would just prefer the two of them to team back up and continue making films together. I gave this film 4 stars, but really, I think it is more of a 3.5 star film. Chalamet is just so undeniable that I cannot help but raise it half a star for him, and I would be happy if he won best actor at the Oscars.