‘Marty Supreme’ is A Fast-Paced Dramatic Delight

There is something slightly subversive about the production company A24’s release of “Marty Supreme,” on Dec. 25. This is certainly not another “Ben Hur” or “The Robe” or “King of Kings,” something American movie audiences might find particularly appealing as entertainment in late December.

No, “Marty Supreme” is about a Jewish hustler, whose approach to dealing with the world might best be described as chutzpah on steroids. The Marty Supreme is this case is a 23- year-old salesman who emerges from the hard scrabble world of the Lower East Side of New York in the early 1950s determined to become an international table-tennis tournament champion overnight.

As portrayed by Timothée Chalamet, who was born to a Jewish mother, and directed by Josh Safdie, whose father was a Sephardic Syrian and his mother a Russian Ashkenazic, this is a character a few of us may have known as we’ve grown to adulthood or perhaps would have liked to have known.

There are plenty of other co-religionists in the film. Fran Drescher is Marty’s mother, and she is joined by Sandra Bernhard, the designer Isaac Mixrahi, and Odessa A’zion in other featured roles. It seemed only natural to Safdie that he populated his film with so many Hebrews. “It’s a story about Jewish people so I needed Jewish actors,” he told a press conference.

In the course of this film, we follow this fearlessly exuberant hero for an eight-month fling at fame that takes him from his humble origins in the lower depths of Manhattan to the rich and elegant world of The Ritz in London. There he meets up with a glamorous former movie star played by Gweneth Paltrow and her rich husband played by the “Shark Tank” judge Kevin O’Leary and a variety of other characters.

They are all pressed into service in Marty’s quest for international fame and ping pong immortality. There’s the former champ who survived Auschwitz, a cabdriver named Wally, played by the famous rapper, Tyler the Creator, and a Japanese table tennis ace played by Koro Kawaguchi. In real life, he’s a certified champ who knows his way about this competitive and fast-paced world of table tennis.

Marty’s life and his plan comes at us all in a rush as the director and his cameraman, Darius Khondji, would have it. The wheeling and dealing, the blistering blustering, of this world-class con man is in in sharp contrast to the soothing melodies of peace on earth, goodwill to men that has been oozing out of the speakers recently along crowded shopping malls.

In that way, it is more like the successful film six years ago that Josh Safdie made with his brother, Benny, “Uncut Gems,” set in New York City’s Midtown diamond district.

The film is loosely based on a real-life character, the champion table tennis hustler, Marty Reisman, who, like the hero of this film, traveled to Europe in the early 1950s in search of fame and fortune. The two Marty’s resemble each other in their frenetic pursuit of world renown along with the occasional missteps that land them in hot water.

The real-life Reisman was once escorted out of a tournament in America after he unknowingly offered $500 to someone he assumed was a bookie. The cash was a bet he made on himself to win the game he was playing. Unfortunately, the presumed bookie was the president of the United States Table Tennis Association.

Still, he was an international star, winning five world championships from 1948 to 1952. Around the same time, he was also the opening act for the Harlem Globetrotters, whose trick shots and comedy routines were mirrored by Reisman and his partner, Doug Cartland. Among their antics was game played by hitting little white ball across the net with the sole of their shoes.

“Marty Supreme,” which opened earlier this month, prior to its national release in New York and Los Angeles, has been short listed for the upcoming Academy Awards. It’s a multiple nominee for the 2026 Golden Globes and critics around the country who pick their favorites this time of the year have made it a consistent favorite. It won a New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay recently.

But all the applause is well earned. Chalamet is a wonder in the title role, the comedy is relentless and engaging, and it’s great entertainment. which makes it a perfect film to end one year and begin another.