The King of Staten Island

The movie features a very subtle truth of life

Movies Comedy Drama
137 min     7     2020     USA

Overview

The King of Staten Island is a movie about a 24-year-old immature guy named Scott who lives with his mother and younger sister in a New York borough called Staten Island. He cannot come to terms with the death of his father, who was a firefighter and died when Scott was a child. He does not want to pull himself together and does not do anything other than smoking weed and making awkward tattoos. His younger sister is about to leave the city to study in college, and his mother to find a new boyfriend who is also a firefighter, and then Scott begins to act to break down his mother's new relationship.

The King of Staten Island is quite a simple movie with no turning points. But it features a very subtle, barely perceptible truth of life. This is not quite a representation of American life, not quite a deep story about a specific area of the city. There is no transcendent drama that will make you cry, but the creators of the movie have reached a happy medium.

Director Judd Apatow did well this time. He has already helped shape the careers of many famous people in cinema: Seth Rogen and James Franco in Freaks & Geeks, Steve Carell in The Forty-Year-Old Virgin, and so on. Apatow works best with young and enterprising people. His wisdom goes well with the stupidity and naivety of newbie actors. And this is the case with Pete Davidson.

Reviews

SWITCH. wrote:
Pete Davidson has had a rough career and is viewed in a somewhat bad light, mainly due to terrible “cancel culture“ trends. If you go in wanting hate him, you will, but that defeats the heart of the film. 'The King of Staten Island' shines as both as semi-autobiographical film and another fantastic entry in Judd Apatow's ever-growing filmography. - Chris dos Santos Read Chris' full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-the-king-of-staten-island-judd-apatow-and-pete-davidson-team-up-is-a-match-made-in-heaven
Manuel São Bento wrote:
If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog @ https://www.msbreviews.com Judd Apatow has directed/produced some hilarious pieces of cinema: Trainwreck, Bridesmaids, Superbad, Knocked Up, The 40 Year Old Virgin... He's got quite the filmography, there's no way of denying it. Therefore, his name alone is enough to grab my attention when a comedy co-written and directed by him comes along. Add Pete Davidson as a co-writer and the main star, plus a really fascinating cast with Marisa Tomei and Bill Burr, and I'm definitely interested. The King of Staten Island holds a formulaic premise (the whole "dead parent entails a bad kid who needs to learn how to be a better person" has been done to exhaustion), but is it able to elevate it in some way? First of all, the dark humor really works for me. For anyone who doesn't appreciate this type of comedy, Apatow's film might be too excessive. Tons of unrestrained jokes about the most sensitive subjects, and characters with no limits to where they can go with their wicked sense of humor. So, if you're not a fan of dark comedy, this movie might turn out to be a very unpleasant experience. However, if you have no issues with laughing at a "bad joke", this comedy might just work well enough for you to have a good time. I had really good laughs. Scott takes the "bad kid who does bad stuff" to a quite terrible (and sometimes illegal) level. He possesses all kinds of psychological issues that you can think of plus some more. He says the most depressing, sad, offensive things to anyone that crosses his path. Pete Davidson absolutely shines in this role, it really feels like he's having an outstanding amount of fun. However, his character goes through such an overlong and exaggerated route that I could neither relate to nor feel sorry for him. This will make or break the film for any viewer: your emotional connection with the protagonist. As I said in the beginning, the narrative follows a pretty cliche story that people have seen thousands of times. So, from the get-go, it's fairly easy to understand where the movie is going, what's going to change within the characters, and how it's going to end. Screenplay surprises don't come often in this genre, and even when they do, very rarely, they're able to impact the audience in a way that completely changes our perspective on the film or its characters. The King of Staten Island is a movie that tells its viewers everything they need to know in the first ten to fifteen minutes, and then there's nothing remotely new throughout. It's just way too long. A bit over two hours seeing someone trying to figure out what he's going to do with his life is not exactly the best entertainment ever. There's more than one way to try to relate to Pete Davidson's character, but I really needed to dig deep to find one. As people probably know, Davidson's father was also a firefighter who died in the 9/11 attacks, and this film clearly takes inspiration from Davidson's life. It's not his biography, but he definitely puts a lot of his own personal issues into Scott's personality. Some people even state that he's just portraying himself, and that's not that far from the truth. In my opinion, the best aspect of the movie is undoubtedly the incredibly realistic dialogues. It genuinely feels like the characters are having real conversations. The editing is so impeccable that I forgot I was watching a film for a couple of moments. The chemistry between every member of the cast is so vibrant that every single dialogue between any two characters always feels extremely lifelike. Marisa Tomei and Bill Burr are astonishing, they truly are. I wish more time was given to develop a bit more of Bel Powley's personal subplot, but I understand that she's far from being one of the most relevant characters. In the end, The King of Staten Island employs a very well-known (and a bit overused) formula that goes on for way too long, but Judd Apatow balances it with a hilariously dark sense of humor, with the help of his co-writers, Pete Davidson and Dave Sirus. Most of the comedy really works, which helped to get through the least entertaining (and predictable) portions of the narrative. Davidson shines in a role that many addressed as "he's just playing himself", but I find him incredibly engaging and captivating to watch, even though I can't quite relate to his character. The emotional attachment to the protagonist is the major component that's either going to make you love this flick or spend a couple of hours just watching someone trying to figure out what to do with his life. The realistic dialogues (elevated by perfect editing) and the cast's phenomenal chemistry just tip the scale to the positive side. I definitely recommend it, but with the small warning that if you're not a fan of dark comedy, then it's better to skip this one. Rating: B-

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