Earlier this year, I saw The Smashing Machine, a biopic of UFC fighter Mark Kerr starring an almost unrecognizable Dwayne Johnson. The movie was directed by Barry Safdie, half of the Safdie Brothers directing duo who gave the world a good Adam Sandler performance in Uncut Gems. The Smashing Machine arguably did one thing similar to Uncut Gems by taking an actor whose work often looks like lazy repetitive work based off the actor’s reputation and giving them an actual role they can sink their teeth into and show what they can do as an actor. But what did Barry’s brother Josh get up to? Short answer: Marty Supreme, a movie that was advertised as a sports story about wannabe global table tennis champion Marty Mauser as played by Timothée Chalamet.
Actually, Josh also had frequent co-writer Ronald Bronstein working with him while Barry flew solo on his script, but that might not be the only thing that’s happening here.
Marty Mauser (Chalamet) begins the movie with an all-consuming confidence because “dream” seems to not be the right word. He’s just absolutely certain that he is the best table tennis player in the world, and to compete in the 1952 world championship in London, where he seems to be the only competitor, he certainly demonstrates a good deal of talent. However, hardly anyone shares Marty’s dream. In the meantime, he’s screwing around with his childhood friend Rachel (Odessa A’zion), a married woman, and he’s turning down his Uncle Murray (Larry Sloman) to be a manager at Murray’s shoe store because, well, he’s just certain he’s going to be the world champion and even appearing on the Wheaties box. He’s that certain, not only that he’s going to win the championship, but that table tennis will soon be a big sport in the United States.
However, the following year’s championship, to be held in Tokyo, is another story. Marty needs a way to get there, and there are many obstacles that get in his way. Over the course of what seems like a week, Marty runs into problems involving Rachel, Murray, Rachel’s husband Ira (Emory Cohen), a vicious criminal (Abel Ferrara), a former movie star (Gwyneth Paltrow), her wealthy husband (Kevin O’Leary), and the occasional cop or angry mob. I don’t want to say too much here as the advertising did a good job of hiding what the movie is largely about in the middle of the film, but let’s just say that Marty’s problems are largely his own fault, as his fast-talking obnoxiousness as he plots and schemes to get what he wants and believes he deserves end up hurting him more than anything else. Will Marty achieve his goals?
First off, Chalamet is brilliant here, but he’s brilliant in most things, so no surprise there. His Marty seems to not only be great at shooting himself in the foot, but he also is completely incapable of admitting he’s responsible for his own set-backs. Marty is a character that cannot help but constantly saying or doing the sorts of things that only hurt him. True, some of his set-backs are dumb luck, but most of what goes wrong is Marty doing the opposite of what someone tells him to do when doing the very thing he’s been told will work to his benefit. Marty is just so convinced of his own excellence that he doesn’t believe the rules apply to him, and it’s a hard lesson to learn for most people, let alone someone with the level of personal entitlement that Marty feels. Basically, Marty’s scrambling and self-destructive habits make him out to be something of a cousin or to Adam Sandler’s Uncut Gems character.
Now, there was one thing in the movie that didn’t work for me, and that was the soundtrack. Part of that may be due to the fact that I was seated under a speaker during the movie, making the music a lot louder than it might have been if I was sitting somewhere else. However, a number of the songs in the movie were anachronistic, songs that came out long after the 1952-3 setting. Combine the music with the volume–that, again, might have more to do with the fact I was sitting under a speaker–and the songs tended to knock me out of the movie. To be sure, there’s a lot about Marty Supreme to appreciate as I am not sure “enjoy” is the sort of word to use to describe watching Marty run around and cause himself more problems as he tries to raise the money he needs to compete even though he might not have had those problems if he just wasn’t such an asshole to just about everyone in his life. I remember when I read John Updike’s “Rabbit” novels, I kept thinking the characters had a knack for always saying the opposite of what they should say in any given situation. Marty Mauser is the same sort of character, and he’s not so much a character you root for for most of the movie so much as someone where you watch, waiting to see how he’s going to put his foot in his mouth again.
Grade: A-
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