BRIAN VINER reviews Marty Supreme: Timothée Chalamet serves up a hit as 1950s table tennis whizz with irrepressible hustle – and scoops a richly deserved Critics Choice Awards

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FIVE STARS 

Verdict: Plenty of top spin

Timothée Chalamet received a significant boost to his Oscar chances on Sunday by winning the Best Actor award at the Critics Choice Awards, a key event kicking off this year’s Hollywood awards season. He won for his performance in Marty Supreme.

Okay, let’s talk about the awards show! Everyone was expecting Leonardo DiCaprio to sweep the night with his film, ‘One Battle After Another’ – it really was the frontrunner, winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Paul Thomas Anderson. But honestly, I was thrilled when another actor took home the top acting prize! It just proves that sometimes, the unexpected happens, and it’s always exciting to see fresh talent recognized.

In the film Marty Supreme, Timothée Chalamet stars as a highly ambitious table tennis player from the 1950s. The movie shares similarities with Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can, which featured Leonardo DiCaprio as the charming and elusive con artist Frank Abagnale Jr.

It’s a real compliment to say that; I recently shared my list of the 25 best movies from the 2000s in Weekend magazine, and I realize now that Catch Me If You Can should have been included. Thinking about it, I’d probably add Marty Supreme to that list too if I were making it again.

The film, directed by Josh Safdie (known for Uncut Gems), unexpectedly became a worldwide success, helped by a clever marketing campaign and the popularity of its French-American star. It’s inspired by real events.

Chalamet accepted his award on Sunday, saying, “Josh, you told a story about a man who wasn’t perfect, but whose dream we could all understand.”

You didn’t lecture the audience about morality, and I really appreciate that. I believe we should all be sharing stories like yours, so thank you for giving us this inspiring moment.

Timothée Chalamet, the acclaimed actor known for Dune and with two Oscar nominations, dedicated himself to learning table tennis for his recent role as Bob Dylan in the film A Complete Unknown.

The 30-year-old has openly shared his desire to win several Academy Awards, and he’s now considered the likely winner at the ceremony on March 15th.

This film, set in 1952, feels more free-spirited than Spielberg’s version, but is just as captivating. It follows Marty Mauser, a quick-witted Jewish man from New York (played brilliantly by Timothée Chalamet), on a chaotic journey through several eventful months of his life.

Marty, a slender, energetic character who drives the narrative forward, sports a delicate mustache, likely hoping to look more mature. However, a bit of teenage acne reveals his true age.

Similar to Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Catch Me If You Can, this young man is surprisingly charming and able to talk his way into – or out of – nearly any circumstance.

The movie opens with him working at his uncle’s shoe store, where he’s a remarkably smooth talker – he boasts he could sell shoes to someone who doesn’t even have feet. He’s also a talented table tennis player, and he’s trying to get people to buy his own special orange ball, called the ‘Marty Supreme’.

Marty is incredibly charming, but also a bit of a trickster. He’ll use any clever scheme to get what he wants, and his biggest dream is to become the best ping-pong player in the world, even with his brightly colored ball.

The movie features some amazing table tennis sequences. They appear so incredible that you might think special effects were used, but reportedly, everything you see is real.

Timothée Chalamet dedicated himself to mastering both kayaking – practicing with a paddle – and guitar playing in order to convincingly portray a young Bob Dylan in the critically acclaimed film, A Complete Unknown.

Josh Safdie’s film isn’t so much about sports as it is about the people involved, specifically the flawed character of Marty and the ambitious atmosphere of post-war New York City, a time brimming with possibilities for those looking to get ahead.

However, Marty quickly travels to London, a much more competitive environment, to compete in a major table tennis tournament at Wembley.

He charms his way into a stay at the luxurious Ritz hotel, where he relentlessly pursues a former movie star, Kay Stone (played brilliantly by Gwyneth Paltrow). Despite their age gap and her marriage to the overbearing Milton Rockwell (new to film, reality TV’s Kevin O’Leary), his confidence wins her over.

If anyone in this story knows what makes Marty tick, it is Kay.

Marty returns to New York and reconnects with Rachel (Odessa A’zion), only to discover she’s also married. Like a ping pong ball, Marty’s sense of right and wrong seems to change depending on the situation.

They constantly get Marty into trouble, like when they get involved with a mobster’s missing dog, sending them on a wild detour. Ultimately, the story follows Marty’s journey to Japan to compete in the World Table Tennis Championships and regain his title.

Surprisingly, the only person who can help him reach his destination is Milton, the man he’s been having an affair with his wife. A particularly striking scene shows Marty enduring a degrading physical punishment in exchange for a ride on Milton’s private plane to Tokyo.

Josh Safdie doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects like antisemitism and the Holocaust, but he approaches them with a surprisingly playful energy, much like he and his brother Benny did in their 2019 film, Uncut Gems. That earlier movie, also a fast-paced story, was inspired by their father’s experiences working in New York City’s diamond industry.

While loosely based on the life of 1950s table tennis star Marty Reisman, the filmmakers take his story in such unexpected and dramatic directions that it feels almost unbelievable.

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2026-01-05 15:23