“Marty Supreme Review Roundup: Timothée Chalamet’s Career‑Best Performance Powers Josh Safdie’s High‑Stakes Ping‑Pong Drama and Oscar Contender”

On December 1, 2025, Josh Safdie’s new sports comedy-drama “Marty Supreme” cemented its status as one of the most talked‑about year‑end releases, as a wave of same‑day reviews hit U.S. outlets ahead of the film’s December 25 theatrical debut. Critics across the board are singling out Timothée Chalamet’s turn as 1950s New York ping‑pong hustler Marty Mauser as a career‑defining performance, with several calling it the most electrifying work of his career.

Set in a noir‑tinted vision of 1952 New York, the film follows Marty, a Lower East Side shoe salesman and table‑tennis prodigy whose towering ambition and hustler instincts drive him into increasingly desperate schemes. Loosely inspired by real‑life table tennis icon Marty Reisman, Safdie’s script pushes its protagonist through a gauntlet of debt, bad decisions and underground matches as he chases international glory. Reviewers note that the film borrows the frantic, anxiety‑inducing momentum of the Safdie brothers’ earlier work while filtering it through the underdog uplift of a classic boxing picture.

Today’s reviews emphasize how aggressively the film centers Chalamet. Variety highlights the actor’s “singularly enervating intensity,” arguing that he banishes any trace of self‑doubt to embody a mid‑century Jewish striver whose ego is both rocket fuel and self‑sabotage. The Daily Beast goes further, describing his work as the best performance of his career and likening the movie’s stress levels to “Uncut Gems” — only this time, the high‑stakes chaos orbits around table tennis instead of diamonds and basketball bets.

Other critics zero in on Safdie’s filmmaking. Deadline calls “Marty Supreme” a “Rocky of ping‑pong movies,” praising the grimy period detail, kinetic camera work and character‑rich approach that turns smoky back‑room matches into full‑blown sporting epics. UPI’s review frames the movie as deliberately abrasive and “triggering,” arguing that its relentlessness is part of the design: viewers are meant to feel trapped inside Marty’s tunnel‑vision pursuit of greatness.

The early critical enthusiasm is already translating into prestige buzz. Industry coverage notes that the film, which premiered as a surprise screening at the New York Film Festival in October, is positioned as A24’s most expensive and most ambitious awards play of the season, with awards bodies eyeing nominations for Chalamet, Safdie and key crafts like cinematography and editing. With today’s reviews pushing its Rotten Tomatoes score into the mid‑90s, “Marty Supreme” heads into its Christmas release as both a high‑octane sports saga and a major Oscar‑season disruptor.