“Marty Supreme” (2025) Film Review: When the Worlds of Table Tennis and Chaos Collide

On New Year’s Eve 2025, I went to see the film “Marty Supreme” with my boyfriend. I wanted to see this film because it starred Tyler Okonma, also known as Tyler, the Creator, one of my favorite musicians. I was excited to see Okonma starring alongside Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Odessa A’zion.

Before this film, I hadn’t gone into Chalamet’s film discography, so “Marty Supreme” is personally the first time I’ve seen Chalamet in a leading role. The same applies to the film’s director, Josh Safdie. 

Overall, there were many new components for me with “Marty Supreme,” including the fact that the main character, Marty Mauser (Chalamet), is loosely based on the real-life table tennis player Marty Reisman.

Set in 1952 New York, Marty works as a shoe salesman at his uncle’s shoe shop while also being a table tennis player. Marty has a goal in mind: to win the British Open, proving that he’s the best table tennis player in the world, and to bring attention to the sport in the United States. 

While Marty is determined, confident, ambitious, and charismatic, it also comes with chaos. He is messing around with his childhood best friend, Rachel (A’zion), a married woman who works at a pet shop. It is displayed early in the film as Marty and Rachel hook up in the back of the shoe shop, as the scene transitions into sperm cells traveling to an egg, reminiscent of what a high school gym teacher would show their students in health class. 

This moment takes up several notches as “Forever Young” by Alphaville plays in the background. The usage of “Forever Young” in this scene was an odd yet humorous choice. Since watching “Marty Supreme,” I catch myself humming this song while doing mundane tasks such as laundry and working my 9-5 job. 

After going through the hassle of obtaining the $700 needed to fund his trip to London for the British Open, Marty arrives in London, where he begins a flirty hook-up relationship with former actress Kay Stone (Paltrow) and invites her to one of his matches, in which she shows up. 

Kay is also married to Milton Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary), a wealthy businessman who is the founder of Rockwell Ink. In the British Open, Marty puts on an electric performance, eliminating former Hungarian table tennis champion and Auschwitz survivor Bela Kletzki (Géza Röhrig) in the semifinals. Marty makes it to the finals, but he loses to Japanese player Koto Endo (Koto Kawaguchi), who uses a unique paddle and technique that was integral to his victory. The loss results in Marty having an intense meltdown, with Milton watching in the audience.

Since losing at the British Open, Marty goes with Bela as a comedic performer for the Harlem Globetrotters. I was genuinely invested in Bela’s survivor story during his time at Auschwitz, defusing bombs in the woods near the concentration camp. However, it awkwardly went away as the next scene showed Bela’s honey-slabbed, very hairy body being licked by numerous Auschwitz prisoners. 

This scene makes it even more awkward as Bela tells this story to Milton, who comes over to Marty and Bela’s table because he was perplexed as to why Marty offered to pay his table’s bill (it’s worth noting that Kay, Milton’s wife, is also sitting at his table). 

Milton is unsure of Marty as a person; however, his interest in the sport of table tennis and Marty’s performance at the British Open final is enough for him to offer Marty an opportunity to play against Endo in a promotional match at the table tennis world championship tournament in Tokyo. 

Marty angrily refuses this offer after realizing he would have to lose the match on purpose to appease the Japanese audience. His focus is to play in the tournament itself in Tokyo, but he can’t because he’s banned from the tournament until he pays a $1,500 fine. This is revealed by Marty’s taxi driver/table tennis player friend Wally (Okonma), who found a letter from the International Association of Table Tennis (IATT) when opening Marty’s mail.

A trainwreck of chaos ensues as Marty tries to scrounge up as much money to pay the fine, even taking some from Ezra (Abel Ferrara), a criminal gangster, who Marty promises to take care of his dog Moses after a bathtub accident. Marty, along with Wally, hustles additional money from a group of predominantly white men at a table tennis game located inside a bowling alley in New Jersey, which goes into disarray as the white men realize they’ve been hustled and violently chase after Marty, Wally, and Moses at a gas station, resulting in a crazy explosion. 

If that’s not enough for Marty to endure, things don’t get any better in New York as Marty and Kay continue their hook-ups, almost getting arrested by police at the park after the opening night of Kay’s comeback play. The cops don’t arrest Kay and Marty because Kay gives away one of her luxury necklaces, originally intended for Marty, so that he can pay the table tennis fine and play at the tournament in Tokyo.  

Marty’s sheer confidence and pride dissolve as he begs on his knees in front of Milton and his party guests for the original job offer. Milton accepts, but only if Marty subjects himself to a bare-behind spanking with a paddle in front of the party guests, which Marty agrees to. 

To further his downward luck, Marty and Rachel are threatened by Ezra to be taken to where Moses is, because Rachel tried to con Ezra with another dog identical to Moses to get the reward money, which ends up in a shootout between the man who took Moses in and Ezra and his criminal associates. Marty was able to get cash from inside Ezra’s jacket, and Rachel was shot. Marty takes Rachel to the hospital, and she goes into premature labor.

In Tokyo, Marty finds out that even if he pays his table tennis fine, it’ll be too late for him to compete in the world championships because the matches are already set. At the promotional match, Marty loses against Endo, but tells the crowd it was staged and persuades them to cheer for a real match, which happens, and angers Milton. Marty narrowly wins the rematch, falling to the ground in exhaustion and relief. He returns home in New York, sees Rachel at the hospital, and confesses his love for her. Marty goes to see his newborn baby (one that Marty denies wasn’t his) and breaks down in tears as Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” plays at the end.

“Marty Supreme,” an action-packed, highly intense film, shows Chalamet’s commitment and pride that melt into Marty, a character who doesn’t settle for less. However, given the whirlwind of terrible events Marty has gone through, his victory against Endo in a promotional rematch was good for him, but at what cost? 

Marty is not competing for the world championships, so this victory was a moment for him and his ego. I connect Marty’s comeback efforts to Kay putting on a “comeback” play performance. Similar to Marty, it doesn’t end in her favor as Kay is hysterically crying towards the end of the after-party, suggesting that she received terrible reviews of her play. The only difference between the two is that Marty’s comeback is sports-related, while Kay’s comeback is acting-related.

Overall, “Marty Supreme” is an adventurous film. I wouldn’t consider this the best film of 2025 (hint: it’s “Sinners”), but Chalamet, A’zion, and Paltrow deliver a hectic yet passionate performance, one that landed Chalamet a 2026 Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actor.

Rating: 3.5/5