Rated R • Theaters

The beginning of Marty Supreme contains one of the most insane and inappropriate transitions in recent mainstream cinema. An unmarried couple, having an affair in the back room of a store, is intercut with images of sperm impregnating an egg, which then transforms into a ping-pong ball. Considering that the next time we see her, the married pet store clerk is eight months pregnant and can’t get ahold of the man, it’s not hard to guess what it means.

Despite the scene not depicting the action graphically, it’s a demented and bizarre image that nonetheless captures the insanity of a movie about unchecked ambition, egotism, and a main character who can’t keep up with his own mouth. In cinematic language, the moment communicates the relationship between its titular character’s poor decisions and his sports ambitions.

The Safdie brothers are among our best filmmakers working today. Despite a creative split between the two, they have collectively directed Good Time, Uncut Gems, and this year’s The Smashing Machine and starred in films like Oppenheimer. Coming as a solo project from Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme has been well received as both an excellent work of a filmmaker and an excellent character study for one of our best living actors, Timothée Chalamet.

A fictionalized retelling of real-life table tennis player Marty Reisman, Marty Supreme is set against the competitive ping-pong scene of the 1950s. Our titular character Marty Mauser is an ambitious and egotistical athlete who already believes himself to be the greatest table tennis player in the world. When a famous Japanese player bests him in a London tournament, Marty begins to spiral as his poor actions catch up with him and he scrambles to earn another shot to play against the man who embarrassed him.

There’s a lot of shared DNA between Marty Supreme and Uncut Gems, which famously gave Adam Sandler one of his best performances as a gambling-addicted, slick-talking, New York jeweler, who is always one bet away from the big time. However, Chalamet plays closer to the chest than Sandler, building a character that is sharper, tenser, and more self-serious.

Marty Supreme doesn’t induce the same stress-inducing panic spiral that Safdie’s previous effort represented. It’s a slower character study on this one man’s absurd-seeming goal to become one of the greatest ping-pong players in the world. Chalamet gives the character a tightly wound egotism and superiority complex. He’s deeply charismatic, capable of swaying cynical businessmen to his side as easily as he’s able to seduce married women.

This characterization is a high-wire act, given the unequivocally cruel things he says and does throughout the film. As this is a sports comedy, we need to be able to root for the protagonist. By the time the credits roll, it’s clear that he is multidimensional enough that we buy the catharsis of the ending he earns. Viewers are left admiring Marty’s worldly ambition while being shocked by his faults.