THE KING OF STATEN ISLAND
****
Director: Judd Apatow
Screenwriters: Judd Apatow, Pete Davidson and Dave Sirus
Principal cast:
Pete Davidson
Bel Powley
Marisa Tomei
Moises Aries
Ricky Velez
Bill Burr
Steve Buscemi
Country: USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 136 mins.
Australian release date:16 July 2020.
When interviewed on ABC-TV (Australia) recently, Judd Apatow said that, “Beautiful people with high self-esteem are not very interesting to watch,” and if you consider his previous films include Trainwreck, The 40-Year-old Virgin and Knocked Up, you understand where he’s coming from. This is a guy who’s made a motza from directing and writing movies about people suffering from low self-esteem. True to form, he has continued with this successful formula in his latest film, The King Of Staten Island (co-written with Dave Sirus and lead actor Pete Davidson). It’s the story of Scott Carlin, a young man now aged 24, still trying to come to grips with the sudden death of his fireman dad when he was a seven-year-old. He freely admits that he doesn’t feel right “up there” and you suspect that he also has ADHD. It’s as though he stopped maturing on his father’s death, a classic case of arrested development.
Scott spends most of his time smoking pot and hanging out with his stoner mates, Oscar (Ricky Velez), Richie (Lou Wilson) and Igor (Moises Arias), and dreaming about opening the world’s first tattoo restaurant. An amateur tattoo artist covered in tatts himself, he has inked (hilariously badly) most of his Staten Island friends, although Igor loves his cat tattoo! He is in a casual sexual relationship with neighbourhood friend, Kelsey (the terrific Bel Powley), who is as disillusioned with her life so far as he is with his, but is striving to improve her career prospects. When not hanging out with his crew, Scott lives at home with his never-remarried mum, Margie (a brilliant turn from Marisa Tomei), a nurse, and his ambitious sister Claire (played by Judd’s daughter Maude Apatow). When Claire heads off to college, Margie, who’s getting somewhat sick of having Scott under her feet, tries to convince him that it might be time to find his own… feet, that is. It’s a matter that becomes more urgent when she meets, and starts to date, Ray (Bill Burr), who is, of all things, a fireman. Scott explodes on hearing this news but it forces him, for the very first time, to confront his grief and inability to move on.
It’s intriguing to learn that The King Of Staten Island is a fictionalised version of autobiographical events and the film is dedicated to Pete Davidson’s father, a fireman who died in the tragic events on ‘9/11’. With Apatow’s encouragement, Davidson, a comedian in the regular Saturday Night Live company, and his friend Sirus, who has also written for SNL, started to write a script based on Davidson’s Staten Island upbringing, but “our first draft was just 90 pages of jokes” until “Judd gave the script an arc and a story,” Davidson admits. In the end, he says, “My character in the movie is probably about 75 percent me. Maybe more. I can’t really tell.” Apatow puts it another way. He states that, “This isn’t a story about 9/11, but it is a story about a young man whose firefighter father died while fighting a fire. In a lot of ways, it’s an imagining of what Pete’s life would have been if he didn’t find comedy and was still in Staten Island in his mid-20s, going nowhere.” In any event, it’s very funny and poignant - a drama with comedy rather than a comedy with drama, and it works well. If the screenplay has a fault it’s that some of Scott’s lines are almost too witty and perceptive, which can make it difficult occasionally to accept that he’s such a no-hoper. And yes, the film does run a bit long, which is a shame because there’s a section in the back half involving Scott’s bumbling mates in a silly caper that could easily have been left on the cutting room floor. It doesn’t add much to his story.
Those quibbles aside, The King Of Staten Island is one of Apatow’s best movies. It’s moving and funny and features excellent performances from Davidson, Tomei, Powley and company.
Screenwriters: Judd Apatow, Pete Davidson and Dave Sirus
Principal cast:
Pete Davidson
Bel Powley
Marisa Tomei
Moises Aries
Ricky Velez
Bill Burr
Steve Buscemi
Country: USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 136 mins.
Australian release date:16 July 2020.
When interviewed on ABC-TV (Australia) recently, Judd Apatow said that, “Beautiful people with high self-esteem are not very interesting to watch,” and if you consider his previous films include Trainwreck, The 40-Year-old Virgin and Knocked Up, you understand where he’s coming from. This is a guy who’s made a motza from directing and writing movies about people suffering from low self-esteem. True to form, he has continued with this successful formula in his latest film, The King Of Staten Island (co-written with Dave Sirus and lead actor Pete Davidson). It’s the story of Scott Carlin, a young man now aged 24, still trying to come to grips with the sudden death of his fireman dad when he was a seven-year-old. He freely admits that he doesn’t feel right “up there” and you suspect that he also has ADHD. It’s as though he stopped maturing on his father’s death, a classic case of arrested development.
Scott spends most of his time smoking pot and hanging out with his stoner mates, Oscar (Ricky Velez), Richie (Lou Wilson) and Igor (Moises Arias), and dreaming about opening the world’s first tattoo restaurant. An amateur tattoo artist covered in tatts himself, he has inked (hilariously badly) most of his Staten Island friends, although Igor loves his cat tattoo! He is in a casual sexual relationship with neighbourhood friend, Kelsey (the terrific Bel Powley), who is as disillusioned with her life so far as he is with his, but is striving to improve her career prospects. When not hanging out with his crew, Scott lives at home with his never-remarried mum, Margie (a brilliant turn from Marisa Tomei), a nurse, and his ambitious sister Claire (played by Judd’s daughter Maude Apatow). When Claire heads off to college, Margie, who’s getting somewhat sick of having Scott under her feet, tries to convince him that it might be time to find his own… feet, that is. It’s a matter that becomes more urgent when she meets, and starts to date, Ray (Bill Burr), who is, of all things, a fireman. Scott explodes on hearing this news but it forces him, for the very first time, to confront his grief and inability to move on.
It’s intriguing to learn that The King Of Staten Island is a fictionalised version of autobiographical events and the film is dedicated to Pete Davidson’s father, a fireman who died in the tragic events on ‘9/11’. With Apatow’s encouragement, Davidson, a comedian in the regular Saturday Night Live company, and his friend Sirus, who has also written for SNL, started to write a script based on Davidson’s Staten Island upbringing, but “our first draft was just 90 pages of jokes” until “Judd gave the script an arc and a story,” Davidson admits. In the end, he says, “My character in the movie is probably about 75 percent me. Maybe more. I can’t really tell.” Apatow puts it another way. He states that, “This isn’t a story about 9/11, but it is a story about a young man whose firefighter father died while fighting a fire. In a lot of ways, it’s an imagining of what Pete’s life would have been if he didn’t find comedy and was still in Staten Island in his mid-20s, going nowhere.” In any event, it’s very funny and poignant - a drama with comedy rather than a comedy with drama, and it works well. If the screenplay has a fault it’s that some of Scott’s lines are almost too witty and perceptive, which can make it difficult occasionally to accept that he’s such a no-hoper. And yes, the film does run a bit long, which is a shame because there’s a section in the back half involving Scott’s bumbling mates in a silly caper that could easily have been left on the cutting room floor. It doesn’t add much to his story.
Those quibbles aside, The King Of Staten Island is one of Apatow’s best movies. It’s moving and funny and features excellent performances from Davidson, Tomei, Powley and company.