Judd Apatow’s (“The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Freaks and Geeks”) directing and writing style is hit or miss in the best possible way. When he hits, its mainly because he’s delivered a film that features a very charismatic actor just being themselves, with a story crafted around their personality (“Knocked Up,” “Funny People”). When he misses, his films tend to turn very self-indulgent and overdrawn (“This is 40,” “Trainwreck”). “The King of Staten Island” isn’t without its stumbles, but it ends up being a fairly enjoyable time spent with a charismatic cast.
That cast is led by SNL cast member Pete Davidson (“The Dirt,” “Set It Up”), who also wrote the semi-autobiographical film with Apatow and Dave Sirus (“Saturday Night Live”), and he carries the entire film. Neither he nor Apatow or Sirus are scared of making his character, Scott, unlikable and idiotic, and it proves to endear him to the audience more.
Life does suck in its own way for him, and a huge part of the film is watching him wake himself up and grab life by its bootstraps. Given that the film is clearly based on Davidson’s life in some part, its hard to tell if he’s so good because the performance is good or because he’s just being himself, but its good, nonetheless.
His mother Margie, played by Marisa Tomei (“The Big Short,” “Cyrus”), his sister Claire, played by Maude Apatow (“euphoria,” “Hollywood (2020)”), and his on-again-off-again flame Kelsey, played by Bel Powley (“The Diary of a Teenage Girl,” “White Boy Rick:), are all great as well. Powley in particular is a ball of charisma, and it makes one wish they were used more in the film. They’re parts are relegated to supporting status, and Claire simply drops out of the film for seemingly no reason. The same goes for the group of burnout friends Scott hangs around, as they aren’t seen after the first half of the film despite playing a large part in the first half.
Bill Burr (“The Mandalorian,” “F is for Family”), in one of his few dramatic-styled roles, is excellent as Ray, the firefighter dating Scott’s mother. He has great chemistry with Davidson, even as the two are at each other’s throats for most of the film. It’s easy to believe their relationship as the film goes on, in part thanks to their chemistry and the laidback nature of the script.
“King of Staten Island” does have a few problems though. There’s the aforementioned issue with some side characters just vanishing from the plot, and while the lackadaisical nature of it all works as a laidback tale, it prevents the proceedings from having a lot of weight.
That’s not to say the film doesn’t tackle difficult material, it does, and does it well. But there doesn’t really feel like there’s ever a climax. It’s just a story of interconnected scenes that continues, until it stops. This does help mitigate the issue most Judd Apatow films have, namely that they feel two long. Despite being 2-hours-and-15-minutes, the experience breezes by thanks to the segmented nature of the plot.
This is a funny and natural feeling film. The dialogue and overall atmosphere feel like it’s just being filmed as it happens, delivering a sense of realism that more “serious” films fight tooth and nail for. But the way it drops characters out of the plot for almost no reason, as well as leaving some plot threads just hanging in the wind prevents this “King” from ruling as much as it could. This is a tale being told to you from a burnt-out friend. Some parts are fuzzy and straight up left out, but its still a fun and sometime intense tale to experience. 3.5/5
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