The King of Staten Island

[StevePulaski]

The King of Staten Island (2020)
Directed by: Judd Apatow

Pete Davidson and Steve Buscemi in The King of Staten Island.

Rating: ★★★

It's as if I woke up one day and everyone I knew was talking about Pete Davidson. Friends were gossiping about his relationship with Ariana Grande. I heard coworkers opine his style was everything from "edgy" to "douchebag-esque," but I couldn't really pinpoint a time when everyone discovered him. Outside of some stray stand-up comedy clips and his name on the "here-today-gone-tomorrow" bulletin board known as the "Trending" section on Twitter, I had no reason to develop much of an opinion on him. Funnily enough, I feel many are in the same boat as myself when it comes to Pete Davidson.

By the end of The King of Staten Island, you should have something of an opinion on Davidson's style and image, and seeing how the film is a semi-biographical account of Davidson's upbringing, it's as an ideal of a launchpad for the 26-year-old comic as any. The King of Staten Island is quintessential Judd Apatow to boot, from its overlong runtime to its intimate focus on a man-child whose drug use and tattoos substitute a personality. Once more, it's Apatow's sympathetic look a lost millennial in conjunction with the personal angle from the Saturday Night Live breakout star Davidson that make the project work; plus a delightful bunch of supporting performers bring everything from sweetness, sass, and extra attitude in doses.

Davidson — who co-wrote the film with Apatow and Dave Sirius — plays Scott Carlin, but upon perusing his bio, his character might as well share his namesake. Scott was born in Staten Island, New York, has Crohn's disease, lost his firefighter father when he was a young boy, and buries his personality disorder and suicidal thoughts under copious amounts of drug use and a litany of tattoos that cover his body.

At 24, Scott lives in his mom's basement in Staten Island, often in the company of his derelict friends who believe they're *this* close to getting their misguided idea of a tattoo parlor/restaurant establishment off the ground. Scott passes time smoking weed, watching Spongebob, and having sex with his childhood friend Kelsey (Bel Powley) while simultaneously refusing to be serious despite their obvious mutual feelings. One day lounging on the beach with his friends, a nine-year-old boy approaches the group and agrees to let Scott give him a tattoo. After running away screaming at the first stroke of the needle, the boy's father, Ray (comedian Bill Burr), later arrives at Scott's home in a fit, but takes a liking to his mom, Margie (Marisa Tomei). The two eventually begin dating, much to the chagrin of Scott, angered and hurt at the idea that his mom is replacing his late father, even 17 years after the fact.

Like any Apatow film, there are a number of asides and supporting characters gradually revealing themselves. There's Scott's sister Claire (Maude Apatow), who is significantly more put-together than her older counterpart as she's about to head off to college, along with a robbery scene that feels simultaneously too dark and too goofy the way it's wedged into the screenplay. I feel it's to further contextualize the impulsive nature of Scott while affirming the film's measurable lack of urgency is to be germane to the often lackadaisical protagonist, but it doesn't circumvent back to the dark opening minutes where Scott attempts suicide. More on that later.

I'll put it this way: Davidson is as likable an unlikable leading man can be. He's a familiar presence you might remember from high school, or even college. Someone who doesn't have their stuff together and who appears on any given day that he couldn't give less of a damn about it. The film is so close-to-home for Davidson that it's fair to assume he didn't go the Daniel Day-Lewis method of preparing for the role, but nevertheless, he plays the role of Apatow's latest source of inspiration quite well. If there's one thing Apatow has confirmed time again, it's that he can make characters out of Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer, who love dressing up as bust-out schlubs mainly because it stands to reason their lives were once dominated by smoking weed, finding the coolest parties, and hooking up with randoms. The tatted, carefree, and arrested development case of Davidson likely captures that familiarity with Apatow, which makes him an unsurprising focal point of an Apatow picture.

The King of Staten Island is greatly elevated by the predictable abundance of supporting performers, the strongest being Marisa Tomei, whose personality ranges from motherly to authoritative with an added dose of sarcasm. She brings the emotional resonance to a project that comes dangerously close to missing the mark on having any due to its lax pacing. Bill Burr makes an impact playing against type in a role that's gruff and humorous from the first time he appears on screen while Steve Buscemi — whose presence is sadly relegated to being something of a third act savior — is the wise-old voice of tenderness and wisdom when Davidson's Scott could use it most.

The King of Staten Island doesn't stack up well as one of the most memorable Apatow ventures. It's too long, for one, and its resistance to perform a more thoughtful, darker examination of Scott is underwhelming, especially seeing as the film opens with Scott's casual suicide attempt. There seems to be an apprehension from Davidson, Apatow, and Sirius to make the material as dark as it could/should be, and instead opt for plot conveniences involving both Margie and Kelsey given that it's what we assume should occur at a particular time in the narrative. It's what makes sequences such as the robbery so jarring; they're not contextualized in a way that would lead you to believe it's (probably) a result of Scott's fluctuating, hyperactive personality.

That being said, you come out feeling like the recently ubiquitous Davidson has been humanized effectively, and are reminded that Apatow can juggle a handful of personalities when and where it counts.

NOTE: The King of Staten Island is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube, and a handful of other VOD platforms.

NOTE II: Check out my review of The King of Staten Island on my web-show Sleepless with Steve. Catch the show Wednesday evenings at 8pm CST at twitch.tv/sleeplesswithsteve!

Starring: Pete Davidson, Marisa Tomei, Bill Burr, Bel Powley, Maude Apatow, and Steve Buscemi. Directed by: Judd Apatow.