If you enjoy drama and thriller with comedy and tragedy mixed in throughout, “Marty Supreme” is the 2025 movie for you.

“Marty Supreme” follows aspiring table-tennis player Marty Mauser as he tries to hustle his way to stardom, making all the worst choices along the way and ignoring their consequences, even when it harms him and the people around him.

The ratings of the movie speak for themselves. With an 8.1/10 on IMDb, a 4.25 on Letterboxd, and a 94% on the rotten Tomatoes critics’ Tomatometer, its safe to say that the movie was a hit among critics and general audiences alike. 

I watched the film a few days after its theatrical release on Christmas Day 2025, and I absolutely loved it. The movie is, in one word, loud. It is at once exhilarating, hilarious, disheartening and maddening. I’m ashamed to admit now that going into the theater, I was expecting to be half-asleep within five minutes. Given that all I knew about the film was that it was about table tennis, my expectations were not high at all.  I’m happy to say I was proven wrong by just those five minutes alone.

There were several aspects of the film that really stood out to me and quickly made it one of my 2025 favorites. One of them was the way the main character, Marty, was written. The main theme of the film is ambition, and the things it can do to a person who is greedy for glory. Marty’s only concern is success; he is poisoned by the need to be something more than just an ordinary man working a 9-to-5. Marty isn’t meant to be liked or supported. He is an embodiment of male ego, at times fragile, and at times dangerous to himself and everyone around him. He is written to be despised, and yet I couldn’t help but root for his success. Because the film follows his journey so closely, it feels almost personal by the end, as if you were a part of his story all along. 

The writing, plus Timothee Chalamet’s fantastic portrayal as Marty was masterful and truly left me in awe.  It was hard to believe that the same man who starred in “Dune”, “Beautiful Boy” and “Call Me By Your Name” was now playing an egotistical, narcissistic bastard who somehow made you hate him and love him at once, and yet he managed to pull it off with ease. 

Another major part of the movie that really drew me in was the camerawork. The cameras in the film often followed slight movements, and that small feature helped create a tense, almost panicked atmosphere, especially during the scenes involving actual table-tennis games.

During the first actual game in the movie, the camera did not leave the ball for a second as it was passed between Marty and his opponent, bouncing off of their paddles with soft thuds that got louder with each following second of the game. The darkness of the theater, coupled with the shot being filmed from the audience’s perspective really made it feel like I was sitting there on the bleachers, cheering for Marty against all odds. 

As someone who doesn’t know the first thing about table tennis or how it’s scored, I was completely enthralled by every competition in the movie. Thanks to the intricate movements of the cameras, the movie was able to establish a great ‘vibe’, if you will. 

Some people didn’t like the film because they felt it didn’t really focus on table tennis as a sport. That development didn’t really bother me. The movie was never advertised to be just about the sport. From the get-go, it was marketed to be a sports drama. It was never just a movie about table tennis, and that is probably why I (someone who couldn’t tell you the difference between football and soccer if their life depended on it), really loved the movie. If you intend to watch solely for the spirit of the sport, then yes, Marty’s escapades may feel a bit random and overly-dramatized. But in general, I think the movie has a good balance, and is as exhilarating as it was promoted to be.

With all that being said, if you are a fan of the Safdie brothers and enjoyed their high-tension, fast-paced crime thrillers “Uncut Gems” and “Good Time,” I think “Marty Supreme” will definitely be right up your alley. And even if you are unfamiliar with Benny and Josh Safdie’s work (as I was just about a week ago), I’d still recommend this movie to anyone looking to spend two hours and twenty-nine minutes being amazed, panicked, angered and disgusted by the hilarious madness that is “Marty Supreme”.