We love Gwyneth Paltrow, and she still looks fantastic in her early 50s. So she was perfectly cast in “Marty Supreme” as an older actress who end up having a relationship with Marty.
But there was one big problem . . . the relationship just wasn’t believable. That has nothing to do with Gwyneth. She’s a lovely “cougar” and handles the part well. The problem was with the Marty character. The character was incredibly annoying. There was nothing redeeming about him, and Timothée Chalamet seemed to make it even worse.
Gwyneth Paltrow in lingerie in “Marty Supreme”
Movies ask audiences to accept unlikely relationships all the time. That’s not the issue. Great films can make us believe almost anything if they do the work. The problem is that “Marty Supreme” never convinces us why this particular woman would be drawn to this particular man.
The film clearly wants us to view Marty as a charismatic hustler. He’s supposed to be the kind of person who can talk his way into opportunities, relationships, and situations that should be beyond his reach. That’s a familiar movie archetype, and it can work when the character possesses enough charm, intelligence, confidence, or vulnerability to make people overlook his flaws.
Marty doesn’t have that balance.
Throughout most of the film, he’s selfish, manipulative, dishonest, and obnoxious. He lies constantly. He uses people. He often seems incapable of thinking about anyone except himself. The screenplay repeatedly tells us that he has a magnetic quality, but it rarely shows us why anyone would actually find him appealing.
That becomes especially noticeable in his interactions with Paltrow’s character.
The movie attempts to explain her attraction through her own personal struggles and emotional vulnerabilities. In theory, that’s a reasonable approach. People do not always make rational relationship choices, particularly when they’re dealing with loneliness, insecurity, disappointment, or emotional pain.
But even accounting for those factors, the relationship never feels earned. Even though we know it’s a transactional relationship, it’s hard to see what this obnoxious kid brings to the table.
Gwyneth Paltrow in “Marty Supreme”
Every scene seems designed to convince the audience that Marty can somehow talk his way into her life, yet the chemistry never fully develops on screen. Instead of seeing two people form a believable connection, I felt like I was watching a screenplay force a relationship because the plot required it.
The problem isn’t that Paltrow’s character makes mistakes. Real people make mistakes all the time. The problem is that the film never gives us enough evidence to understand why Marty, of all people, would be worth the trouble.
As a result, every major scene involving the two characters felt increasingly artificial. Rather than becoming invested in the relationship, I found myself questioning the premise behind it.
For me, that’s one of the reasons “Marty Supreme” ultimately falls apart. The film asks the audience to accept that Marty possesses an irresistible charisma.
I never saw it.
