Struggle vs. success: The wild ride of Marty Supreme

By Ben Read, February 6 2026—

Marty Supreme is a film filled with underlying passion for sport, shedding light on the desire to pursue one’s dreams without the money to support yourself. It is a melting pot with many branching storylines and subplots that blend together to accurately reflect the raw human experience of struggle. 

While the film, directed by Josh Safdie, revolves around table tennis, it is presented in such a way that it can be enjoyed whether or not you’re a fan of the sport. Marty Supreme has the strength of appealing to a broad audience.

Marty Mauser, played by Timothée Chalamet, has dreams of becoming the best table tennis player in the world. There’s just one problem: he’s broke. But no monetary struggles would stop him. As Marty says, failure “doesn’t even enter [his] consciousness”. Throughout the movie, Marty uses and steps over other people to muster up the money that he needs to perform on the table tennis world stage and prove he is the best. In short, Marty is a jerk, but one you find yourself rooting for, due to his unfortunate circumstances and bad luck.

What makes Marty such an intriguing character is not his struggle for money, but rather what he does to make money. From table tennis scams to stealing jewelry from the neck of a millionaire, Marty always seems to have a scheme up his sleeve. These schemes come with a cost. Victims come back to fight Marty and the stolen jewelry turns out to be cheap, costume jewelry. Seeing Marty fail time and time again, only to keep trying, immerses the audience into his every action.

Chalamet’s performance gives life to Marty. His ability to accurately portray Marty’s many faces, from his ferocious outrage upon his loss against Koto Endo, the Japanese ping pong player who is Marty’s main rival throughout the film, to the subtle ways he spoke down to other people, his performance invested me as a viewer in Marty’s struggle. I wanted to see more of his condescending, yet passionate character. Chalamet’s performance won him the Golden Globe award for Best Actor — an award I believe to be rightly justified.

The supporting cast did an excellent job at playing their characters as well. Gwyneth Paltrow as Kay Stone exuded experience. She saw through Marty’s lies like glass. Koto Kawaguchi as Endo was stoic and focused, representing a wall for Marty to overcome.

The film is a wild ride. It is full of many twists and turns which keep the audience enthralled. While watching, you may think you know what’s going to happen next, but it always manages to surprise you with bold, unexpected turns.

While the lack of a focus on table tennis might be disappointing for those who are fond of the sport, the intrigue the film creates surrounding Marty’s actions and situation, as well as how it converges the numerous plot points together, creates a rowdy and unpredictable experience. All while it leaves its audience satisfied.