Reviews are out for “Uncut Gems” and “Good Time” co-director Josh Safdie’s kinetic drama, the ping pong-themed “Marty Supreme” starring Timothee Chalamet, and the results are labelling it one of the year’s best films.
With 55 reviews counted it sits at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes while on Metacritic it stands at 88/100. On the latter, it currently ranks as the eighth-highest-rated film of the year and the second-best wide release behind only “One Battle After Another” (95) and ahead of “Black Bag” (85).
That suggests it’s going to sit high on end-of-year lists along with such lauded 2025 arthouse films as “The Secret Agent,” “It Was Just an Accident,” “Sentimental Value,” “Cactus Pears,” and “No Other Choice”.
Here’s a sampling of reviews:
“Chalamet makes one of the most colossal movie performances of the 21st century seem as natural as a lay-up.” – David Ehrlich, Indiewire
“It is rather that the film is itself ping pong; the rhythm and spirit of table tennis is in every scene and the mesmeric effect of the spectacular, clattering, dizzying back-and-forth.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“For its entire two and a half hours — which whips past in what feels like mere minutes — Safdie’s film had me vibrating like a tuning fork. It’s a joyous salute to life’s beautiful cacophony.” – Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph
“Few works in modern Hollywood have leaned into the folly of youth with such tremendous gusto, and even fewer have been fueled by such non-stop adrenaline, en route to such joyful catharsis. There’s nothing quite like it.” – Siddhant Adlakha, Decider
“A melt-the-screen-down-to-gold performance. With the steamroller audacity of his character, Chalamet has staked a massively confident claim for his first Oscar. If you must gamble, lay it all on Chalamet. Now.” – Nick Howells, London Evening Standard
“In the defining performance of his still-burgeoning career, Timothée Chalamet — makes you want to believe in this instantly iconic character too … even if sometimes you also want to strangle him.” – Peter DeBruge, Variety
“A manic, madcap odyssey that is as exhilarating as it is exhausting, Marty Supreme is operating on a level of ballsy absurdity that no other movie this year can dream of touching.” – Hoai-Tran Bui, Inverse
“A panic-attack ping-pong movie that ends with a cloying and almost completely unsatisfying mixed message. Neither Marty nor the film ever acknowledges that he’s a monster and that he destroys almost every life he touches… It’s shallow self-congratulation for American moxie at the expense of everyone and everything around us.” – William Bibbiani, The Wrap
Chalamet leads the cast as the title character alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion, Kevin O’Leary, Tyler Okonma, Abel Ferrara, and Fran Drescher. “Marty Supreme” opens in cinemas on December 25th.
