Is he actually destined for greatness, at least in the world of ping-pong? He very well could be. Marty escapes his dreary life by (sort of) robbing his uncle of his rightful salary as a shoe salesperson. His family doesn’t believe ping-pong can take him anywhere. And why would they? In the 1950s, the decade in which Marty Supreme is set, the racket sport was barely played in the United States, confined to underground arenas and small-time gambling circles.

In some ways, Marty mirrors Timothée Chalamet himself — a performer openly chasing greatness. During his Screen Actors Guild acceptance speech last year, where he was honoured for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, Chalamet declared, “I’m in pursuit of greatness”. It was a statement that divided audiences, painting him as either arrogant or refreshingly candid about his ambition. Even while promoting Marty Supreme, he told Jimmy Fallon the film is about sacrifice, chasing dreams, and refusing to take no for an answer — ideas he clearly relates to. The movie’s press circuit blurs the line between where Chalamet ends and Marty begins.

It’s all, to borrow Chalamet’s words, “in pursuit of greatness”. But what’s the cost of chasing a dream with that kind of tunnel vision? After placing second at a London tournament early in the film, Marty starts making increasingly reckless decisions. He keeps moving forward — but in the haphazard, destructive way of someone who never pauses to consider anyone else.

Typically, we expect to like a film’s protagonist, even when they’re flawed. But Marty Supreme upends that expectation. Marty evolves from demanding his rightful salary to committing armed robbery, seducing a washed-up movie star (Gwyneth Paltrow), recruiting her husband as a sponsor, and inadvertently causing an explosion that kills a questionable associate’s dog. He even has an affair with his married childhood friend, Rachel (Odessa A’zion) — then denies the possibility of being the father when she later turns up pregnant eight months later.

The film stays tightly locked onto Marty’s perspective, rarely giving us space to consider alternatives. In the moment, his choices feel natural, even inevitable — the actions of a man incapable of slowing down long enough to confront the wreckage he leaves behind. He’s a motormouth, persuasive yet too forceful, bulldozing his way through every encounter.

But it raises an intriguing question: if Marty slowed down and put his ego aside, would he still chase his dream? Or would he have given up at the first obstacle, back when he was stuck in his uncle’s shoe shop? Perhaps that’s another film entirely. As much as Marty Supreme is about chasing American greatness, it’s also about how ambition can consume someone whole.

Chalamet has steadily shaped himself into one of the most compelling actors of his generation, and Marty Supreme may be his most committed performance yet. Under Safdie’s direction, he never lets Marty become a punchline, even when the character arguably deserves it.

Chalamet commands the screen for the film’s entire two-and-a-half-hour runtime, keeping you hooked even as Marty makes increasingly questionable decisions. You find yourself half-rooting for him, half-hoping he crashes — and yet unable to look away. Even when Marty becomes increasingly frustrating and unlovable, Chalamet’s engaging, all-in performance keeps the movie compellingly watchable.

Whether Marty achieves greatness almost becomes beside the point. What lingers instead is the portrait of a man consumed by ambition, never stopping to think about what it might cost him. Marty Supreme suggests that when ambition is pursued like a caged animal desperate to break free, it risks becoming hollow, a shell of what it was meant to be.

Marty Mauser, for all his fire and drive, is no exception to this rule.