David Farnor | On 15, Mar 2026

Director: Josh Safdie
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion
Certificate: 15

Say the name “Safdie” to any film fan and they’ll likely break out in a nervous sweat, such is the triggering, nail-biting experience of watching the brothers’ Uncut Gems or Good Time. Now, Josh Safdie has gone solo for this similarly energetic outing, which unites two forces you’d never expect to read in the same sentence: Timothee Chalamet and table tennis.

Loosely inspired by a real-life ping pong champion, the film follows Marty Mauser, a shoe salesman with the gift of the gab – and an equally impressive gift with a table tennis paddle. Constantly determined to prove himself as someone great, he chases recognition, success and money with even more passion than he chases Rachel (Odessa A’zion), his childhood sweetheart who is now married to someone else.

That determination leads him to increasingly dark and warped antics, and the mildly depraved farce is the main reason to keep tuning in, as Safdie’s script dials up the mayhem, selfishness and greed without hitting the pause button. That takes us from a stockroom fling to an incompetent robbery and then to London and further afield, as Marty not only talks his way into the Ritz by also into the room of retired film star Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow). All the while, a rivalry brews with Japanese table tennis champ Endo (Koto Kawaguchi).

If that latter part makes you think this might be a conventional sports movie on one level, prepare to be upended, as more time is spent on Marty’s sparring with a possible sponsor, businessman Milton (Kevin O’Leary), who happens to be Kay’s husband, and on his entertaining double-act with his friend Béla (Géza Röhrig), a concentration camp survivor. Paltrow’s romance with Marty may feel to feel convincing, but her still presence is a perfect counterbalance to his relentlessly moving performance – Chalamet’s immature, needy desperation is a delight to watch. Safdie, meanwhile, is smart enough to sit back and let us observe as this tightly wound spring is let loose.

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