Loved it. This is cinema. Packed theater at noon on a Sunday. Odessa A'zion is a star. And just call him Johnny Ping Pong

Imagine starring in ‘MARTY SUPREME’ as your first ever acting gig…

Luke Manley (@FatrickEwing) joins the show to talk about his journey to landing the role and his experience filming the Timothée Chalamet led ping pong odyssey pic.twitter.com/eZp6OGhfea

— Project Big Screen (@ProjBigScreen) December 29, 2025

What’s like working with Timothée Chalamet?

“It’s just true — he’s such a bro’s bro”@FatrickEwing dishes on his experience as a first time actor working with one of Hollywood’s hottest names in ‘MARTY SUPREME’ pic.twitter.com/TxYSRODtjr

— Project Big Screen (@ProjBigScreen) December 30, 2025

TCTTS said:

---

Absolutely loved it.

Chalamet will probably win the Oscar, the casting overall was impeccable, the score was awesome (very '80s inspired), and the ending could not have been more satisfying.

But fair warning, in case anyone has any delusions of this being an inspirational sports drama, it's definitely a Safdie Brothers movie (or Brother, rather). Meaning relentless, edge-of-your-seat mayhem from beginning to end, especially in the second half, sprinkled with sex and violence and general insanity throughout (though no blatant nudity save for a few quick glances of nude photos). There's also a super-weird, 20-second-or-so bit with honey that was one of the most random WTF moments I've seen in a while, that seemingly caused two people in our sold-out theater to walk out.

So adjust your expectations accordingly.

That said, there *is* a compelling sports drama inside this thing, that comes to an incredible head in the third act. It's just that Marty is simply not a character you're going to root for in traditional fashion. Rather, he's very much another slimy, in-over-his-head, constantly-doubling-down/digging-a-deeper-hole character type, in the same vein as Robert Pattinson in Good Time and Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems. And while I saw it with my family and everyone liked it, my dad and one of my brothers-in-law were "exhausted" when it was over, and everyone liked One Battle After Another a bit more (which we all watched together the night before). Still, I made the same crew sit through Uncut Gems in the theater six years ago, which they hated with a passion and still give me **** for, so they were super weary going into this one, but were pleasantly surprised when it was over. It's just as relentless, if not more so, but a bit more "accessible," if that makes sense. Granted, it's still not for everyone, but if you're even remotely interested in seeing it, and know what you're getting into, you'll have a great time.

---

This is a great review for anyone still on the fence about seeing it in the theatre.

The whole family went tonight because our 20 year old is home from A&M and is a movie nerd. I didn't hate it, I didn't like it either.

It was like the point I got to with the Sopranos. Everyone sucks. I don't know sh** about the kid that played the lead role but he's good at being a deek and he surely didn't do Jewish stereotypes any good (please note I am pro Jew, pro Israel).

The entire "dog sub plot" should have been cut. This movie is too long and that detour added absolutely nothing of value.

I liked Kevin O'Leary's debut to Hollywood more than any other character. I think Paltrow must have needed the money.

I have no idea if this was loosely based on something historically accurate. Regardless, I wanted to see some characters die. They earned it.

Big meh across the board at our house but as noted above, it's not for everyone.

Watching this last night and thought it was fantastic. Chalamet did incredible work, perfectly capturing the annoying, unstoppable, but ultimately irresistible striver. His casting and Paltrow's casting were certainly meta, but both nailed their roles. I was an O'Leary doubter, but he really fit as well. Pretty amazing how many inexperienced or non-actors were in the movie.

I thought the 80s music was an inspired choice, though Forever Young has been overused, so I would have picked a different needle drop for the ending.

Long movie, but it never dragged. It could have used a few more scenes with Chalamet, Paltrow, and O'Leary as I thought they were the highlight of the film.

Finally watched this.

Exhausting is a great description, and not in a good way in my opinion.

He was definitely just a sleezy salesperson type BSer that I hated. The constant anxiety inducing NY style talking was aggravating.

Parts of it didn't make much sense or were predictable:
- I'm still not sure what Paltrow saw in an annoying character with the same body as my 13 year old son. It just wasn't believable to me.

- So he comes home and his uncle has hired a cop to intimidate him, then the uncle reveals he has taken money from his suitcase, that they are square and it's all in the past. Then Marty sneeks out the window and a chase ensues. Why exactly? Didn't they just square things? Why does the cop or his uncle give an F that he went out the window?

- As soon as he's left on the sidewalk you know he is going to go up to the party and make a scene and being annoying... and he was.

- As soon as the gangster who lost his dog peers in the door and his friend in the window you know one is about to get shot gunned in the face and chaos will ensure... and it does.

- He even at one point tries to be sympathetic saying something like "where I'm from you have to scrap for everything". No you don't! You have a mom that gives you a free room and an uncle that has a nice job for you, you haven't had to scrap for crap, you just constantly put yourself in bad situations.

I don't know. I've seen 9 or the 10 Best Picture nominees and this is in the bottom 2 for sure. I liked Uncut Gems but this was too much of an absolutely annoying character.

To me Sandler's character in Uncut Gems was just as much if not more of a "sleeze" than Marty Supreme. So i'm not sure why you are okay with that movie but not this one. It just kinda seems like Safdie movies aren't up your alley.

Maybe so. Sandler was more watchable to me and the movie flowed better.

Jim01, to answer some of your critiques, I think:

paltrow is married to a guy sheet clearly hates and is pretty much washed up, Marty has charisma and confidence, all while being in the penthouse suite, and she is craving excitement and the attention her husband and the public isn't giving her anymore

He comes home and the uncle wants him back at the shoe store because he is by far the best salesman, the uncle is being a bit greedy and doesn't like how marty's lifestyle is affecting his sister/marty's mom either, he thinks the kid just needs some discipline vs pipe dreams, him and the cop also don't like being made fools of by marty...again.

Of course he is annoying at the party, that necklace is his only shot to get to Japan, when that falls through he has to go humiliate himself to Mr Wonderful which is a devastating blow to his huge ego, but he has to do it because his dream is all consuming

Gangster...you're 100% spot on, that whole shootout was silly and that whole part of the movie could have been removed.

you don't think living in a crappy apartment your whole life with your mom while selling shoes for crap money isn't scrapping? He is the best ping pong player in the world and thinks the sport is about to blow up, and you want him to stay with his mom and sell shoes?

I hate this movie. Kevin O'Leary is surprisingly good in it but not a single character in this movie is likable. I find I don't give a **** if Marty succeeds in anything. Ping Pong isn't really enjoyable to watch and for a supposed dramedy there are zero laughs.

I'm sure it's already been mentioned on this thread that I haven't read through but just noticed there was a cameo role by Ted Williams who is the former homeless guy that went viral on YouTube a few years ago.

I watched this last night on HBO Max and enjoyed it. I get the criticisms about none of the characters being likable, but if you've watched other Safdie films then you know that's where they like to tell stories. They don't like simple good and bad, they like a bunch of characters living in the grey. If your story's protagonist is a dirtbag, I think it helps when they're surrounded by other dirtbags, and they're all trying to get over on each other. It's more understandable why they just do things in self interest the whole time. The Safdies are also a couple of hustlers who've had to work really hard to get their stories on screen, so their films are populated with hustlers. It's probably not a film I'll watch again, but I'm glad it's out there. Maybe it sounds weird but my favorite thing about the movie is how it looked. It wasn't a washed out bunch of digital slop, it looked like a movie at a time when most of what is in theaters looks like garbage because of the technology being used in the industry. This movie was intentional, and it did the thing it wanted to do IMO. I'm glad this movie got made and it got enough praise to get some nominations on the biggest stage. I actually saw a lot of the best picture nominees from 2025 for a change, now all of them except for Hamnet, and it definitely belonged in the conversation. I did enjoy this more than The Smashing Machine, which his brother made last year.

This was all style, no substance for me. The 50s vibe was well done, the cinematography was cool, and they did a good job with creating anxiety in every scene. Also it was a completely pointless story that didn't really have a plot, didn't have any likable characters, wasn't funny, no interesting relationships, no interesting dialogue. It was just a collection of incidents with people yelling at each other, capped off by a meaningless ping pong match.