I was chatting to a talented amateur golfer recently about what it takes to succeed, and he was provided this familiar advice from a major champion – “fake it till you make it.”  In other words, you’ve got to trick your mind into thinking you belong.  Professional sport is highly competitive and, considering just a small number succeed, you’re unlikely to reach the top of the mountain carrying self-doubt.  In addition to putting in the hard work, you must mentally believe in yourself.

Marty Mauser, a fictious ping pong player from the 1950s, is the epitome of this philosophy.  He considers himself the #1 player in the United States and, sensing the sport is about to go through a global boom, his blinding ambition is to win a world championship.  Marty’s motivations are simple – money and glory.  He knows he’s the best but, to satisfy his ego, he must prove it to everyone else.

This may sound like an uplifting, rags-to-riches sporting movie but the latest from director Josh Safdie (Good Time, Uncut Gems) is anything but.  The likeable Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name, A Complete Unknown) plays the title role but the catch is that Marty is an intensely unlikeable character.  There is no colleague, friend or family member he wouldn’t “screw over” if it helped him get one tiny step ahead.

It’s this element which makes Marty Supreme an interesting view.  He sleeps with a Hollywood actress (Paltrow) and uses it to access her wealthy husband (O’Leary).  He borrows money from a struggling friend (Okonma) with no plans to repay it.  He convinces a childhood buddy to invest in an orange ping pong ball but then leaves him hanging.  He impregnates a young, married woman (A’zion) and provides no financial or emotional support.  Despite all this, and there’s a lot more I haven’t mentioned, Marty carries on with deluded, carefree abandon.  He can charm and schmooze his way out of any troublesome situation!

Marty Supreme is wildly entertaining but not perfect.  Supporting players slip in and out of the picture but their own subplots feel dispensable.  I also wanted a more from Marty’s character arc.  The film is structured to be one misadventure after the other and while they offer quality laughs, I wanted more gravitas given the lengthy 150-minute running time.  A “spanking” good confrontation involving the excellent Kevin O’Leary to kickstart the final act is the film’s highlight… but the script then reverts to the norm with a predictable ping pong tournament in Japan. 

They’re minor quibbles though.  With a well-suited electronic music score from Daniel Lopatain (Uncut Gems) and one of the best ensemble casts of the year (so many distinctive characters), Marty Supreme is to be enjoyed.  He’s been knocking on the door for a while, but will this finally be the performance that earns 30-year-old Timothée Chalamet his first Academy Award?  I suspect it will be!