The King Of Staten Island Review: A deeply moving homecoming.
A man child who lives in his mother’s house in his mid-twenties, high school dropout, emotionally unstable, of a dual personality, smokes pot all day with his friends in the basement, has no idea what to do with his life -all these are perfect recipe of a disaster. But what is a disaster? Judd Aptow’s new film The King of Staten Island follows the life of Scott (Pete Davidson) lives in Staten Island with his mother, Margie (Marisa Tomei) and spends his time getting stoned and inking his friends with bad tattoos. While it’s been many years since his father’s death but the grief of losing him is no less debilitating. Scott’s inability to grow up and move on is strongly linked to the sudden loss of his father when he was only 7 years old.
It is a semi-autobiographical dramatic comedy written by Saturday Night Live’s Pete Davidson and Dave Sirus, who partnered with director Judd Apatow. 24-year-old Scott Carlin here is living the life the actor himself might have, had he not discovered comedy as a teenager. Both Scott and Pete grew up in Staten Island and lost their firefighter fathers as children (Davidson’s dad died during the 9/11 attack), and both consequently battled mental health problems.
Over the past few years Pete has been a tabloid fodder for several reasons and has openly spoken about his mental state, depression and other problems. Scott is an unlikely leading man, he is honest, raw and doesn’t shy away from talking about his demons or agreeing to the fact that he is a failure in his life. He is of failing health and dreams about opening a tattoo restaurant (literally a tattoo restaurant!). In one scene his sister Claire ( played by Judd’s real life daughter Maude Apatow) remarks that he looks like a person who sells crack under a bridge to which he replies that he know the person who sells it and he looks quite good. Judd’s earlier films had like Knocked Up and 40 Year old Virgin had unlikely leading men who were common and likeable. The same can’t be said about Scott, he might be likable in some scenes but doesn’t really have that charisma. A combo of equal-and-opposite events forces the emotionally paralyzed guy, who dreams of becoming a tattoo artist, to grab the reins of his floundering life.
Scott’s sister leaves for college and he is left behind with his mother, Margie (Marisa Tomei). Margie is a quintessential good and caring mother and all she does all day is care about her man child and miss her daughter. Hell starts to break loose when his mother starts dating Ray (Bill Burr) who’s child Scott had tried to tattoo in the woods. As Bill is also a firefighter, Scott starts to fear that his father (who literally has a shrine in their home) will get replaced. He tries to resent this relationship with all his might. Once Ray takes Scott to a baseball game with his fellow firefighters. When asked if he has ever thought of taking up the professional too, Scott starts a rant about why firefighters are selfish and shouldn’t have families. It’s such a raw scene which plays out so beautifully and tries to resent what he thinks is a toxic masculinity represented by these firefighters. But life certainly has other plans for him which both he and the audiences never expected.
The film has way too many subplots, and unnecessary scenes. The Jay Z references and the burglary scene seems completely out of place. Scott’s personal sexual and romantic life though being problematic, gets solved with a single heartfelt speech. Very Judd Apatow-ish. The characters follow a very recognizable arc and some characters like the sister have very less to play with. The King of Staten Island suffers from being far too long at 136-minutes.
The main highlight of the film is the fantastic and earnest performances by born-and-bred New Yorkers such as Davidson, Tomei, Buscemi and, Davidson’s real grandpa, who instinctively turn into these eccentric Staten island characters.
The final shot of the movie is the iconic Staten Island Ferry, bringing to mind “Manhattan” and countless other New York City classics. All you want at the end of the movie is to give Pete Davidson a big warm hug.
