I was disappointed to feel underwhelmed by Marty Supreme. The poster/banner with the "the BEST FILM of the year" critic quote and 10 five star ratings rather set expectations high, as did the buzz of anticipation from outlets such as The Big Picture podcast, and as with many films nowadays the trailer mischaracterised the film. Ultimately, the 'plot' boils down to [spoiler]a loathsome utterly unlikeable selfish prick leaves broken hearts and disaster in his wake, on a quest for a couple thousand dollars to afford to fly to japan for his grudge match against a character I wish the film had been about instead[/spoiler]. Marty is surrounded by characters who are much more interesting than he is - [spoiler] why is the mob guy Ezra bathing his dog in a three buck flophouse? I'd rather see a film about the story behind that than this, or the story behind Rachel and her life, or the story behind Kay Stone's attempted comeback and her strained marriage with Milton Rockwell, or the story between Dion and his father, or Wally the cabbie, or the guys who own the Fight Club-esque table tennis establishment, or the group of guys at the bowling lanes, or Hoff the violent farmer with a house so dim and cluttered that it looks more like a hoarder died in there rather than someone living there [/spoiler], all of those stories would be infinitely more interesting than that of a one-note entitled dickhead. So I can't critique the film for having shallow one-note supporting characters, Safdie develops a very rich world around the main character, but the main character himself is shallow and one-note. "Everything in my life's falling apart!" Gee, I wonder why, if only we could find the person responsible /s. Marty isn't even an antihero; he has no redeemable qualities, no tangible reason to feel sympathetic for him or root for him in the slightest, and god knows what Rachel and Kay see in him, I guess he must be hung like a horse. And then the story, or what tries to pass for one, [spoiler]there's no comeuppance. Marty acts like the world owes him everything; when Kay gives him an expensive necklace to pawn for his trip to Japan, he makes a move and they're then caught in a compromising position in the park by two cops who they pay off with the necklace, but word will spread about Kay's indiscretion and stain her reputation and likely end her marriage and career comeback that her husband is bankrolling. But what is Marty concerned about? He wants another necklace so he can still pay his way to Japan. And she agrees!?!? However, she's unable to follow through with it, so Marty approaches her husband again, begging and pleading, and almost manages to utter the word "sorry" for the first time in the film but only manages a "sor..." before saying something else instead.[/spoiler] [spoiler]He gets to Japan for Rockwell's exhibition match, which he loses as planned, having also been told while in the queue that he's not going to be entered into the championship because the brackets are already set and why should they change them for some entitled arrogant American. Why indeed. Anyway, after the exhibition loss, his ego clearly can't take it, so he screws over the man who brought him to Japan (having already fucked his wife and insulted the memory of their dead son) by revealing to the crowd that the loss was staged, and demands a genuine rematch. Rockwell then informs him that win or lose, he's not going to fly Marty back to America with him. Marty narrowly wins the rematch (using his original paddle rather than the cushioned one, I might add, so no character development there either). Is he now stuck in Japan, a fish out of water having to finally face the consequences of his actions? Nope, he hitches a lift back on a plane with US soldiers who were at the exhibition. Then, having missed the birth of his child, he briefly attempts to comfort a bedridden Rachel in the hospital, telling her he's not going anywhere, but rapidly lets go of her hand, dropping it to fetch a seat rather than slowly and caringly letting it go. Rachel, who gave birth to his child, who was kidnapped my mobsters because of him, who took a bullet (well, shotgun pellets) for him, and who Marty had a few days prior told her that her life was meaningless and that she should feel sorry for him having to bear the weight of being talented and having a purpose in his life... [/spoiler] [spoiler]And then the final scene, he's looking through the glass into the baby room, and starts crying. But I don't believe these tears are ones of redemption, joy, a change of heart, no, I feel they're tears of selfish pain, realising the newborn inconvenient responsibility he perceives in front of him, the human embodiment of some consequence of his actions. Only, I imagine that if the story did continue, he would be an absent and deadbeat dad, given how he's been characterised throughout the film. He has learned nothing, he hasn't grown at all, and he's barely faced the music for any of his actions.[/spoiler] The film then ends, with many loose threads left dangling from all the infinitely more interesting plot points relating to many complicated side characters. After dragging on for two and a half hours with an incredibly scattered and unfocussed plot that ultimately had an very simple premise ([spoiler] trying to get enough money together to compete in Japan [/spoiler]), I'm left unfulfilled and underwhelmed. Of the Safdie brothers' solo effort 2025 sports films, I preferred The Smashing Machine over this, and for 2025 chaotic criminal snowball films, I preferred Caught Stealing.

Bullshit Not deserved your time

Brilliant. Timothee acted the HELL out of that.

a fucking delirium from start to finish. great performance by Chalamet, but his character is one of the most detestable, selfish and a piece of shit never seen in the cinema

Entertaining enough but ultimately shallow and forgettable.