Josh Safdie’s “Marty Supreme” is not your regular sports movie. It’s not about discipline and teamwork — it’s about total obsession and complete selfishness.

It’s a story of a Jewish-American in post-WWII New York, chasing the American dream. Marty Mausser (Timothée Chalamet) is a true hustler who doesn’t care what gets in his way. Whoever he has to scam, he’ll scam, even those close to him. Marty lacks empathy and most would call a bad person. But, I couldn’t help rooting for him for the entirety of the film’s two hour and 29 minute runtime.

While his self-centeredness makes it hard to like Marty, the other characters in the film are selfish as well. Even as Marty resigns himself to degeneracy, his environment and his relationships guide him there.

Watching this film was stressful. Two and a half hours of an intensity that is instantly recognizable for those familiar with director/writer Josh Safdie’s work. Marty Supreme perfectly matches the tone of Safdie’s last two movies, “Good Time” (2017) and “Uncut Gems” (2019). While both are incredibly intense and personal favorites of mine, “Marty Supreme” takes the cake.

Safdie worked with his brother, Ben Safdie, on the last two projects previously mentioned. The two brothers have split up to direct their own solo sports movies both releasing in 2025, with Ben directing the “Smashing Machine” and Josh directing “Marty Supreme.”

Despite parting ways with his brother, Josh Safdie brought back some familiar faces from his last movie, starting with co-writer Ronald Bronstein. The duo of Safdie and Bronstein is masterful at cooking up stories about characters who are generally bad people. They all hustle, rob or scam for a living and while doing bad things to get their way. But still, I find them all very likeable.

Chalamet, the star of the film, is immediately captivating in what felt like a refreshing role for him. Transformed from the pretty-boy stereotype, Chalamet is relentless in his escape from the dreaded type-cast actor. I couldn’t stop thinking of something Chalamet said while accepting the award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role in 2024: “I’m really in pursuit of greatness.”

This level of confidence is very apparent in his role as Marty. Despite the two having totally different circumstances, I couldn’t help but compare them.

This film is based on the true story of Marty Reisman (who I had to research after watching this, assuming most of the film was exaggerated). It’s not like a person assumes that the 1950’s table tennis scene is actually that dramatic. But a lot of these wild things in the movie actually happened. Upon my research, I found a 1977 Sports Illustrated profile on Reisman that stated, “he was discovered naked hiding in a closet by an angry husband wielding a 12-gauge shotgun.” Not that this happens in the film, but this is the chaos you can expect.

Safdie cites his inspiration for “Marty Supreme” from taking a lot of criticism during his 10-year process to create his last movie, “Uncut Gems.”

“So everyday that passed that my dream didn’t seem like a reality, it hardened me and I kind of created this level of urgency,” Safdie said during a Sag Harbor Cinema Q&A. This urgency is felt throughout the whole movie until the very last scene.

The camera work was quick and oftentimes disorienting. Very impressive work from the cinematographer Darius Khondji, who also did the camera work on “Uncut Gems.” Khondji’s lens keeps the audience tightly confined within Marty’s world, using handheld camera work and close framing to convey constant tension and unease. The ping pong matches had my heart racing. The scenes are frenetic while capturing every movement and sudden pivots. Even when things slowed down a little, the tight close-ups maintained the intensity.

Gwyneth Paltrow, as Kay Stone, delivers a charming yet powerful performance, putting a spin on the typical withered flower character trope. While Marty is loud and obnoxious in his scheme, she is gracefully deceitful. Stealing moments with Marty as an escape from her dreadful marriage. She uses him for causal excitement while Marty uses her for money and validation, creating an almost symbiotic relationship.

Tyler the Creator, a popular music artist making a surprise appearance as Wally, one of Marty’s closest friends in the ping pong community. Wally’s personality is very similar to Tyler the Creator’s. At times it felt like he was just playing himself. One of my favorite scenes of the whole movie is just Marty and Wally in the cab listening to music and celebrating their score. His charisma and comedic relief was a much needed break from the anxiety attack this movie was.

Even more of a surprise, Kevin O’Leary appears in his first movie as the character Milton Rockwell. His performance adds a refreshing take to the movie — shifting from a Shark Tank investor while still playing a shadow of himself: a rich mogul with attitude. O’Leary himself wrote what may be my favorite line in the whole movie.

The line is too great for me to spoil here, but trust me when I say that it’s horrific.

Timothée Chalamet adds more fuel to the fire in his “pursuit of greatness,” winning the golden globe award for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and now nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars for his role in “Marty Supreme.” Safdie has proved himself with another intense “dramedy.”

I think Safdie has really found his pocket with the breadth of characters who can only be described by their hustle. I already loved his last two movies and I can’t wait for what he’s working on next.