Marty Supreme is a 2025 American comedy drama film, directed by Josh Safdie from a screenplay by Ronald Bronstein. It had its world premiere at the 2025 New York Film Festival in October and was released in the UK on Boxing Day.

The film, set in 1952, tells the story of around nine months in the life of Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet), a fictional character loosely based on the American table tennis legend Marty Reisman. Reisman was possibly America’s greatest ever table-tennis player, although enthusiasts of the sport may suggest Dick Miles could have taken him the distance on that claim. However, if Reisman wasn’t quite America’s greatest player, he was certainly America’s greatest table-tennis showman and hustler (at one time performing a table-tennis warm-up act for the Harlem Globetrotters), and this is where Safdie has concentrated his film.

The story begins at the British Open Championships in London and ends on the eve of the World Championships in Japan. However, both these tournaments are fictionalised versions of the real thing and, not in any way a spoiler for the film, Reisman actually won Bronze in the 1952 World Championships Men’s Doubles, which was played in Bombay, not Tokyo.

Marty Supreme is a relentless comedy odyssey, played at breakneck speed, involving a series of highly unlikely situations in which our ‘hero’ finds himself, many of which are unbelievable and yet, may well be based on facts. It is entertaining, but I think I went along to see some kind of sporting biopic and may have taken a little while to tune myself into the comedy.  

However, Chalamet was very good in this marmite role, and to be fair at times I was not sure whether I loved him or hated him as a character, but he certainly made his mark. As his older love interest, wealthy, retired actress and socialite, Kay Stone, Gwyneth Paltrow was excellent, as was Odessa A’zion as Rachel Mizler, Marty’s childhood sweetheart, now married to another but carrying Marty’s baby.

However, ultimately, with the benefit of a couple of days to dwell on what I saw, I feel there are some very disturbing themes which somehow seem to have been lost in all the hype. Narcissistic heroes are nothing new, although in Mauser this is taken to extreme; his total self-obsession and focus on his own dreams leaves everyone, friend or foe, drowning in his wake, and a possible redemptive final scene is, for me, far too little, far too late. The unapologetic toleration of his cruelty, much of which is somewhat unnecessary and gratuitous, is a little difficult to bear at times and the way Jewish identity and Holocaust memory are portrayed left me feeling rather uncomfortable. Having said all of that, Marty Supreme is a (slapstick) comedy, and is probably best taken as nothing more than that. It is sure to be a contender at the upcoming award ceremonies. And, if nothing else, the actual table tennis scenes are good to watch (if like me you enjoy watching great table tennis).