Tag Archives: Gwyneth Paltrow

Marty Supreme

What a character! Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet) AKA Marty Supreme is one of the more memorable rare birds seen onscreen in a long time. He’s an over-confident table tennis hustler, a schemer and a romancer. And a shoe salesman!

He’s based on a real life person but the Marty created by co-writer and director Josh Safdie and fleshed out by Chalamet is an over-the-top can’t-be-real guy who’s full of surprises and seemingly fearless moves and feints. Somehow all his ventures seem to work out.

And the characters he encounters during the time of the movie—a year or so in the early 1950s—are a clever mix of individuals. Rachel (Odessa A’zion) is a neighborhood girl friend who engages in a tryst with Marty in the back room of the shoe store where he works and becomes pregnant. Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow) is a sort of washed up actress who Marty spots and seduces. Her husband Milton Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary of Shark Tank fame), is a crusty businessman who Marty hits on for financial sponsorship. Marty’s mom is played by Fran Drescher and magician Penn Gillette has a memorable role as an angry dog owner.

Marty Supreme moves at a breakneck pace. The tale and the lead character are audacious and frequently funny. It’s not quite Tarantino level but there’s a collection of episodes here that seem to whipsaw in unexpected directions.

And what about the table tennis? Just like he practiced guitar to play Bob Dylan, Timothée Chalamet practiced for years to become a ping-ping wizard. Not that the sports competition is the main reason to see Marty Supreme, but the ping-pong play is a vital element. And director Safdie includes just about the right amount. Will Marty Supreme lead to a boom in sales of ping-pong tables? It could happen!

Chalamet, who turns 30 on December 27, is likely to receive his third Academy Awards nomination for his portrayal of this beguiling character. Will he grab the trophy this time? It could happen!

For pure entertainment and engagement, Marty Supreme is a winner. One of this year’s best.

Marty Supreme is rated R for language, sexual content and violence. It runs two-and-a-half hours.

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I’ll See You In My Dreams

As cool as it is to see a 72-year-old woman and a 70-year-old man as the stars of the light romantic comedy I’ll See You In My Dreams, the story is more like one from a romance novel than one from real life.

Don’t get me wrong: ISYIMD is a sweet, fun movie. But much of it does not ring true.

Carol (Blythe Danner, Gwyneth Paltrow’s mom) is a slim, attractive 70-something whose flirtations with a much younger pool boy (Martin Starr) seem to stir her libido. Then, when complete stranger Bill (Sam Elliott) smiles and pays a passing compliment in the grocery store, things begin simmering.

A nudge from her bridge buddies (Rhea Perlman, June Squibb and the wonderful Mary Kay Place) brings her to a senior speed-dating event, which provides chuckles and eye rolls (plus a quick scene with Max Gail of Barney Miller fame). A later chance encounter with smiling Bill leads to a dinner date and fast-moving romance.

Here’s what doesn’t compute. Carol claims that she’s been uninterested in dating, sex, etc. since her husband died twenty years earlier. That’s hard to buy, considering her appearance and comfortable station in life. Likewise, Bill says he, after his wife left him, cashed in his investments, moved to California and bought a boat. Yet he, too, (he claims) has had nothing going romantically for a while.

For some women, Elliott’s squinty gaze, his bushy moustache, his sly smirk of a smile, his very long unlit cigar and that incredible Dodge-truck-selling voice will be enough to incite a fantasy or two. For some men, Danner’s beauty and figure at 70+ will be a turn on. As the pool boy tells her when they first met, “You don’t look that old.”

I’ll See You In My Dreams features Danner delivering a respectable performance of classic torch ballad Cry Me A River at a karaoke bar. The funniest sequence in the movie involves the four bridge buddies inhaling a bit of medical marijuana and heading out to the grocery store for munchies.

A flaw of I’ll See You In My Dreams is it plods along at a casual pace for the first hour or so, then suddenly sets about to resolve things in a hurry. The film clocks in right at 90 minutes.

For moviegoers of a certain age who sit at home and complain that all the new romantic movies are about young people, stop complaining. Go see this movie! Danner and Elliott look great together and the other cast members add just enough spice to make ISYIMD an amusing reason to head to the theatre.

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