Directed by: Judd Apatow
Screenplay by: Judd Apatow, Pete Davidson, Dave Sirus
Cast: Pete Davidson, Marisa Tomei, Bill Burr, Bel Powley, Maude Apatow, Ricky Velez, Steve Buscemi
Judd Apatow, a director known for both his edgy comic dramas and his eye for discovering unknown talent, has not been living up to his reputation lately. The King Of Staten Island is a prime example of that. I seriously don’t know what I’d classify this film as. Is it a comedy perhaps? No, because unless I missed something, there isn’t a single laugh in the whole film. Ok, so maybe it’s a drama then? Again No, because the drama is so light you miss that too. I guess I might refer to it as a Stoner Film, or Cotton Candy for the School Age Set, or maybe even a Tattoo Tribute film.
Whatever you call it, the film is painful to watch. Maybe that’s the whole idea; make a film for people who want to watch two hours of its main character going through a meaningless painful daily existence. Now there’s an idea I never again wish to see come to fruition.
I like Pete Davidson, think he’s funny, so I’m baffled. On the one hand you have a talented young comic actor, a mainstay on Saturday Night Live with a large fan base, on the other hand you have a lost and very troubled young individual, and you choose to tell a loosely based vapid story of his mental challenges instead of his rise to comic acceptance. That could have been a wonderful film. This is not.
Here’s The Storyline
Twenty-four year old Scott (Davidson), a weed-smoking slacker, is still living at home with his over-worked ER nurse mother (Tomei) on Staten Island. He dreams of being a tattoo artist, an art form he seems to have little or no actual talent for. He’s quite satisfied sitting on a couch with his buds, getting lost in online games and clouds of smoke, while occasionally hooking up with his childhood friend Kelsey (Powley).
When his younger sister (Apatow) heads off to college and a firefighter named Ray (Burr) starts dating his mother, Scott’s life starts taking a radical turn. Among the many things bothering him about his mom’s dating is the fact that it brings up the painful memory of his father, also a firefighter, who died in a fire when Scott was seven.
These two major and several other minor chains-of-events, forces Scott into the world in a way he never expected. Can he survive the catharsis and become a functional human being or will he get lost in the ‘morass of the lost’?
There is nothing new here; it’s a standard doper film without the usual humor. The fact that Davidson is appealing as a performer and has some real acting chops helps the story a bit, but all his charisma doesn’t help the film come far enough to make it palatable for a general audience.
The film will be released worldwide on Friday, June 12th.
My take… If you’re up for this kind of film, by all means go see it. Personally, I’d rather watch Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle or Superbad again.
