The line between dreams and delusion can be blurry, but Timothée Chalamet’s flawed protagonist is the core of a captivating story about ambition and the relentless pursuit of greatness in Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme. 

Chalamet is Marty Mauser, a charismatic narcissist with an unshakable drive to be a champion in the up-and-coming sport of table tennis in 1950s New York. By day, Marty is a smooth-talking salesman in his uncle’s shoe store, carrying on an affair with his married girlfriend Rachel (Odessa A’zion), and spending all his spare time plotting ways to make it to Japan to compete against unstoppable champion Koto Endo (real-life table tennis champ Koto Kawaguchi).

Along the way, he runs afoul of the head of the international table tennis organization, a gangster with an emotional attachment to his dog, a billionaire pen tycoon, and an aging movie star. 

We often think of world-building with regard to sci-fi and fantasy, but it’s just as important in a period piece. Not only do the environments from production designer Jack Fisk and costumes by Miyako Bellizzi feel authentic, but the casting choices, made by casting director Jennifer Venditti, add another fascinating layer to the film. 

Gwyneth Paltrow stands out as a movie star past her prime, trying to assert her talent through theater. She can see through Marty’s bullshit, though she willingly succumbs to his flattery in a sort of “game recognize game” attraction. Kevin O’Leary is most well-known as the snarky investor “Mr. Wonderful” on Shark Tank, which adds an interesting flavor to his role as Paltrow’s wealthy husband, who has a very twisted power dynamic with Marty. 

A’zion is truly captivating in a breakout role as Rachel, Marty’s ride-or-die. She’s simultaneously immune to his manipulative nature and willingly roped into the spiraling chaos that swirls around him. In addition, we get appearances from the likes of Tyler the Creator, Fran Drescher, Penn Jillette, Isaac Mizrahi, and George Gervin, just to name a few—all adding a unique special sauce to the screenplay from Safdie and Ronald Bronstein. 

Of course, Chalamet’s performance and the meta layer of his “one of the greats” speech make this complicated character a real treat. Unlike A Complete Unknown, which presented Bob Dylan as an asshole, but then excused all his terrible behavior as the acceptable cost of being a “genius”, Marty is a piece of shit from the get-go, and the film doesn’t try to brush that off or gloss over it. Instead, we’re simply with him on this ceaseless quest to be the best, invested because he’s fascinating more than because he’s lovable. If anything, we want him to win just so the damage he’s caused to everyone around him is worth something. 

With media literacy in the toilet, it can be risky to give audiences a main character who is a charming but destructive narcissist. As we saw with The Wolf of Wall Street, many people believe the term “protagonist” to be synonymous with “hero” and assume that any film with a rotten person as the central character must be endorsing that character’s actions. Much like Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort, Chalamet’s Marty Mauser is a fast talker, a great salesman, a man with drive and endless ambition, but he’s also self-serving, manipulative, and unconscionable, leaving a trail of casualties in his wake. He’s absolutely captivating to watch, but he’s a real piece of shit. 

Marty Supreme offers a fascinating examination of ambition and post-war American exceptionalism, showing us both the good and bad of “dreaming big”. Marty’s drive is admirable, but destructive. He’s surrounded by characters who are more willing to compromise and settle, which is shown as both sad and logical. Wanting to achieve greatness is certainly something to strive for,  but at what cost?