Josh Safdie’s new film, Marty Supreme, centres on Timothée Chalamet’s titular character, Marty Mauser. Marty is a loud hustler with a habit of making poor choices. Trouble tends to follow him wherever he goes.
He wants a bigger challenge in the story. Marty plans to travel overseas to compete in major table tennis tournaments. His goal is to represent the United States on an international stage. It is a strange ambition for someone like him.
That contrast drives the story. The film watches Marty try to fit into a serious sports world while still acting like himself.
Who Is Kevin O’Leary’s Milton Rockwell in Marty Supreme
Over the course of the story, Marty keeps drifting in and out of favor with a possible sponsor named Milton Rockwell. He is played by our very own Kevin O’Leary. Milton is extremely rich and very confident about it. He is married to a famous American actress named Kay Stone, played by Gwyneth Paltrow.
Marty sees Milton as a way forward. Milton treats Marty like a curiosity one moment and a project the next. Their relationship never feels stable. It shifts with Milton’s mood and with Marty’s latest mistake.
Marty’s Fall and Return to Milton
Early in the story, Milton gives Marty a tempting offer. He wants Marty to travel to Japan for an exhibition match. The opponent is a player who had already beaten Marty once. The plan is for Marty to lose again, this time on purpose, to make the event more dramatic.
Marty cannot accept that idea. His pride will not let him agree to a staged loss. He walks away from the deal.
By the end of the film, things look very different. Marty has burned through his money. He has made one bad choice after another, and he runs out of options. Marty goes back to Milton and swallows his pride. This time, he is ready to beg and take the offer.
Milton never misses a chance to embarrass Marty, often reducing him to a spectacle rather than a partner. He also seems to enjoy it.
Marty is not an innocent figure either. He is selfish and careless. His constant hustling leaves damage behind. People get hurt because of him. Some even die because of him. That makes his public shaming feel less cruel and more like payback.
That uneasy arc is exactly what bothered Kevin O’Leary most.
Kevin O’Leary Has a Big Problem With Marty Supreme’s Ending
Mr. Wonderful sees Marty as a morally bankrupt character. His dislike ran so deep that he had an issue with the ending. He did not like how the story wrapped up.
He felt Marty escaped real punishment. From his point of view, Marty should have faced something tougher. The ending lets him walk away too easily after all the damage he caused.
Kevin O’Leary talked about this in a recent interview with Variety. He pointed to Marty’s treatment of his girlfriend, Rachel, as a key problem. She is played by Odessa A’Zion. Marty ignores her and treats her badly, even after getting her pregnant.
What bothered O’Leary most is how the film handles that thread. Marty gets a soft, emotional reunion with Rachel at the end. To O’Leary, that moment feels undeserved.
Why Kevin O’Leary Disliked the Ending of Marty Supreme
What bothered O’Leary most is how the film handles that thread. Marty gets a soft, emotional reunion with Rachel at the end. To O’Leary, that moment feels undeserved.
Marty’s arrogance is obvious from the start. Seeing it finally break would have been a release.
But that is not what happens, to Kevin’s dismay. Marty asks for a second match instead. He throws Milton’s whole setup into chaos. Milton tells him the money will be pulled. Marty accepts that risk. He is done playing along. Now he cares more about his pride than the payout.
Once Marty wins back his pride, the film turns gentle with him. He goes home to Rachel. He holds his baby. The scene plays like a quiet reward. Kevin O’Leary thought that was off. It felt too kind for a character like Marty.
Mr. Wonderful raised that concern with the writers. He tried to get them to rethink the ending. He even pitched a harsher version of his own.
Kevin said, “I told them I was really unsatisfied with the ending, for my character to get f***ed over like that. This kumbaya ending is absurd. […] [Marty] f***ed everybody. […] Why should he not live a life in misery in perpetuity after that? […] Rachel has to die. She has to die in childbirth.” Unfortunately for him, this idea never made it into the final cut.
Kevin O’Leary’s Wildest Pitch For The Film
O’Leary also revealed a far stranger idea he wished the film had embraced.
Near the end, Milton delivers a bizarre speech where he claims he is a centuries-old vampire and warns Marty about the cost of crossing him. The moment feels strange and out of place since the film has no other supernatural elements.
Kevin O’Leary later said he wished the film had committed to that idea. He wanted Milton to actually be a vampire and bite Marty. He felt that a darker turn would have suited the story better and served as a stronger punishment for Marty.
Marty Supreme Ending Leaves Moral Questions
The film closes without giving easy answers. It leaves you sitting with Marty’s choices and what they cost others. Some viewers may want a cleaner sense of justice. Others may accept the discomfort as part of the ride. That moral ambiguity is exactly what Kevin O’Leary could not accept.
The film does not wrap things up neatly, and that choice feels deliberate. It trusts the audience to sit with the mess, argue with it, and decide for themselves what counts as a win.
