Marty Supreme

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⭐9/10

What a lucky break for Chalamet in that he could play himself in a movie! He was born for this role! I admit, as a leader of the Chalamet haters club, he absolutely rocked it in this one. This is a movie about an absolute piece of shit human being trying to be the best at ping pong. I disagree with Tim's take that there is much push and pull here, that his charm overcomes his insufferability, and I don't think there's really ever a moment where I thought, hey maybe he's not so bad! Not that I think that was his takeaway, but I think this movie is less about a man's pursuit of greatness, but more an exploration of complete narcism and ways we justify selfishness, even to ourselves. 

I didn't really find myself cheering for him because I wanted him to succeed, but more because you see how much stock he puts into all of this, and seeing him fail would be painful like seeing a man burn alive no matter who it is. Still, I think you can't help but fall for this character more because he is very funny! You can never fully grasp how low this guy will go, and his increasing degeneracy gets more and more outrageous as the movie goes on. It absolutely killed me and I Iaughed a lot. It almost felt like a guilty pleasure in a sense, knowing i shouldn't be laughing at him selling his soul at every turn.

So this movie works on multiple levels. It is entertaining as hell to watch with amazing editing, music, cinematography, all that, and the two hours pass quickly. But I think it is also a smart movie and has a lot to say. At first I was disappointed with the ending, seeing him seemingly change, his heart growing 3 sizes when he finds something bigger than himself. But I think this movie does an awesome job of making us reflect on that moment. Spoiler warning:

We know Marty will be a terrible dad. He just told the mother of his child that she lives a meaningless life like 3 scenes prior, and then made an excuse so he didn't have to be present for the birth of his child. You know he won't make one single sacrifice to make someone else's life better. Everything he does is is self-serving and advances his own self-image in some way, even a pretty important scene in which he is selling away his dignity so he can compete in a  tournament that ends up being meaningless. He makes excuses for every shortcoming and takes responsibility for nothing. I think his reaction to seeing his child is genuine, but it isn't selfless, that he conflates this new part of himself as part of his ever-growing legacy. I'm not sure if it's what the creators quite had in mind, but either way I thought it was a powerful image to close on. 

Great movie. I want to give this movie a perfect score, and I think I've nearly talked myself into that, but I'll leave it just short because what kind of hater would I be if I did?

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