Marty Supreme (2025) – Chalamet’s Career-Best, But an Ethically Tricky Ride (8/10)

I went into Marty Supreme (2025), directed by Josh Safdie, with sky-high expectations—everyone was calling it one of the year’s best, Timothée Chalamet had just won Best Actor at the 2026 Critics’ Choice Awards, and the buzz was huge. The first half left me disappointed and even annoyed. The second half? Completely turned me around. By the end I loved it… but after thinking it over, I have some serious ethical concerns. Beautifully made, shocking, gripping—yet problematic. Strong 8/10 for me.

The Plot: A Ruthless Climb to Table Tennis Glory

Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet) is a cocky young table tennis prodigy with one dream: win the big championship and prove everyone wrong. Nobody takes him seriously, so he lies, cheats, manipulates, and destroys everything in his path to get there. He robs his uncle, uses friends, sleeps around (including with married and older women—one ends up pregnant, and he denies it), breaks families apart—all without a second thought.

The film looks like a sports movie on the surface, but table tennis is really just the backdrop. There are great matches at the start and a big finale, but most of the runtime is Marty’s chaotic, selfish journey through a corrupt world of gambling, hustling, and betrayal.

What Blew Me Away

• Timothée Chalamet is unreal. He makes you hate Marty, fear him, almost admire him—career-defining performance. That Critics’ Choice win was deserved.
• The second half is electric. Once the stakes skyrocket and consequences hit, I was glued to the screen. Shocking scenes, intense pace, emotional punches.
• Safdie’s style: chaotic energy, fast cuts, raw dialogue. Feels alive and unpredictable.
• The way it shows single-minded ambition—no limits, no morals—until it all crashes.

My Big Ethical Issue

Marty is not a hero. He’s an antihero at best, a destructive force at worst. The movie glamorizes his selfishness a little too much—lying, cheating, abandoning responsibility all “for the dream.” Some viewers might walk away thinking that kind of ruthless behavior is cool or necessary for success.

I hated him in the first half (which dragged because of it), loved the film in the second… then stepped back and thought “wait, is this celebrating a terrible person?” It’s cleverly made, but that moral gray area (or lack of clear condemnation) bothers me. We need limits, even in pursuit of greatness.

Ratings and Critical Reception

• IMDb: 8.3/10 (24,000 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes: 94 % critics (273 reviews) / 83 % audience

Top 10 of 2025 lists everywhere, Golden Globe noms for Picture, Actor, Screenplay. My 8/10 is a bit cooler than most—I admire the craft, but the ethical fuzziness holds it back from perfection.

Final Take: Brilliant Acting, Messy Message

At 8/10, Marty Supreme is undeniably powerful—Chalamet’s best work, Safdie’s wild energy, moments that shock and stick. If you love intense character studies and don’t mind morally messy protagonists, you’ll probably rate it higher.

Just go in knowing Marty isn’t someone to root for in real life. The dream comes at too high a cost.

What did you think of Marty Supreme? Did you see Marty as inspiring or infuriating? Drop your thoughts below!

And suggest my next watch—after this I need something with a clearer moral compass or another intense antihero story.

If this balanced review helped, like, follow, share. See you in the next one!