It was 1952. 23 year old Marty Mauser (Timothee Chalamet) worked as a shoe salesman for his uncle Murray (Larry "Ratso" Sloman) in New York City. However, his real passion was table tennis. By hook or by crook, he booked himself a trip to London to join the British Open. He defeated defending champion Bela Kletzki (Géza Röhrig) from Hungary in the semi-finals, then faced deaf Japanese player Koto Endo (Koto Kawaguchi) in the thrilling final round.
Marty was involved in a number of other unsavory activities. With his best friend Wally (Tyler Okonma), he hustled unsuspecting guys at ping-pong to earn extra cash. He had a sexual affair with his married childhood friend Rachel (Odessa A'zion). He also seduced elder actress Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow) so that he would have opportunities for sponsorship with her ruthless pen tycoon husband Milton Rockwell (Kevin O'Leary).
This is Josh Safdie's first project as a solo director. He began film directing as a team with his younger brother Benny, with "Uncut Gems" (2019) as their best-known film. Benny's first solo project is "The Smashing Machine" (2025) about a real-life pro wrestler Mark Kerr. Josh's film is also about an athlete, but a fictional one, albeit inspired by a real-life 50s ping-pong player Marty Reisman, also a hustler and an opening comedy act for the Harlem Globetrotters. The screenplay is co-written by long-time Safdie collaborator, Ronald Bronstein.
Like "Uncut Gems," the mood of the film was very highly stressful as the unscrupulous central character getting involved in a lot of very tight, precarious situations, on or away from the pingpong table. Because of his annoying sense of self-importance, Marty Mauser was not a particularly likable title character, so Chalamet had to draw a lot from his own personal charisma and goodwill to get the audience on his side through this 150 minute film.
While Timothy Chalamet is very much in the Best Actor conversation so soon after his SAG win for "A Complete Unknown" (2024), Odessa A'zion and Gwyneth Paltrow are both in the thick of the Supporting Actress race. True New Yorker supporting actors, like Fran Drescher (as Marty's mom Rebecca), director Abel Ferrara (as dog-loving gangster Ezra Mishkin) and designer Isaac Mizrahi (as publicist Merle) gave the film a genuine NYC vibe. 8/10
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