The King of Staten Island
universalJudd Apatow has a penchant for directing films about people who are stuck. Whether it be a washed-up comedian like Adam Sandler in Funny People or a middle-aged loner like Steve Carrell in The 40 Year Old Virgin, a typical Apatow character finds themselves having to cope with their current life predicament. Apatow’s latest depiction of arrested development finds Pete Davidson playing Scott Carlin, a fictionalized version of himself, in The King of Staten Island.
Scott Carlin is a lanky 24-year-old Staten Island native who still lives at home with his mother Margie (Marisa Tomei). He buries his trauma from losing his firefighter father as a seven-year-old, spending most of his days surrounded by a crew of stoner buddies, giving them inconsistent but usually terrible tattoos. His life is going nowhere and he’s messed up, but Scott doesn’t seem to care until pressure is put on him by his younger sister Claire (Maude Apatow) leaving for college. On top of that, his mother begins dating Ray Bishop (Bill Burr), a local firefighter. Scott unwittingly introduces the pair after an abrasive Ray confronts Scott and his mother at their home after Scott tattooed Ray’s nine-year-old son at the beach. Scott’s world is changing and he’s not liking the discomfort.
Apatow’s characters are always the best part of his films, the audience loves them because of the love and care put into them, and The King of Staten Island is no different. Pete Davidson’s Scott Carlin may be a loser but his lack of boundaries and dark humour make him as charming as his real-life counterpart. Bill Burr’s Ray Bishop is a tough son of a gun, helped along with his bushy mustache. He may hate Scott for being a pot-smoking failure, and Scott may hate Ray for being a firefighter like his father, but they’re more alike than the pair think. Burr’s and Davidson’s comedic chemistry become the soul of the film, but with the overwhelming tender care given to the leading men, most of the film’s male secondary characters become a little one-dimensional. Scott’s stoner buddies and Ray’s firefighter crew are counterparts to one another but most of them are limited in nuance – a shame for a comedy with such a staggering runtime. Moisés Arias, Ricky Velez and former firefighter Steve Buscemi are standouts here.
universalMarisa Tomei does a lovely job playing a single widow, her character Margie finally takes time for herself by beginning a new relationship with Bill Burr’s character, despite protests from her son. Tomei brings Margie through a change of choosing herself over her children, pushing Scott into growing up rather than continuing to enable his slacker tendencies. Maude Apatow as Scott’s younger sister, Claire, manages to bring plenty of caring energy to her role, always worried about her older brother, even while she has limited screentime due to being at college. A wonderful Bel Powley plays Kelsey, a childhood friend and another woman in Scott’s life that deeply cares for him. In interviews, Pete Davidson frequently talks about the love he has for the women in his life, so it makes sense to see such well-developed female characters.
Apatow’s comedies have always had touches of real-life circumstances, but The King of Staten Island pushes Apatow the furthest into drama – luckily, it suits him. However, the film’s target audience remains limited to lovers of comedy and the whopping runtime could have easily been edited down thirty to forty minutes to make it more palatable. The film’s pacing often meanders as it attempts to establish Scott’s life struggles. While Scott Carlin and The King of Staten Island follow Judd Apatow’s traditional models of character and story, this film feels much deeper due to Pete Davidson’s personal touches within the film. The opening scene shows Scott Carlin shutting his eyes while driving in the middle of the freeway, a case of attempted self-harm that sets the tone of the film to be more than a comedy.
Co-writing the film alongside Apatow and Dave Sirus, Davidson’s character becomes a semi-biographical version of himself. They’re both Staten Islanders, they both lost their fathers and still live with their mothers, they both struggle with mental issues, they even have both have Crohn’s disease. It’s Davidson’s influence that makes The King of Staten Island so endearing. It’s Pete Davidson’s story unapologetically on display for the world to see.