'The King Of Staten Island' A Review

The King Of Staten Island is a dramedy about a listless 20-something Scott(Pete Davidson) trying to figure out his life. Scott is an aspiring tattoo artist and pot head with mental health issues. Living with his mom Margie(Marisa Tomei), leading on his best friend Kelsey(Bel Powley)and hanging out with his equally unmotivated friends he must deal with the wreckage of his present and the pain of his past, the death of his fire fighter father, while competing with Ray(Bill Burr) for his mom's attention.

This is, in many respects, Davidson's story and he is playing a version of himself so his performance is quite good. Where he somewhat struggles is when deep emotion/transformation is required, and he's servicable but his humor and innate charm shines throughout. The supporting cast are all kind of incredible especially Powley as this ambitious Staten Island woman, who's in turns guileless, vulnerable, smart, and tough. She is just effervescent onscreen and really stuns, an award worthy performance. Tomei is always great and is so here but after this coming off the back of Spider-Man it makes you wish she was getting more meaty roles. Burr shows more range and restraint than has ever been apparent and is surprisingly effective. The other standout is Maude Apatow as Scott's sister Claire, who seems to be coming into her own, or is at least given more than some of her previous roles as precocious kids/teens. On the whole the cast is shockingly good and dimensional with a number of surprise cameos and supporting turns.

Visually the film, like all of Apatow's work, is mostly workman like, there isn't a lot of flashy camera work or artistic composition but it does feel intimate, the film is in some ways a slice-of-life and it feels like you're with Scott on his day-to-day. Also like many of Apatow's work the film is too long, he's very patient with scenes and pacing and this provides the real, authentic quality which is part of his trademark and allows his cast space but it can easily turn to bloat(Funny People being the most egregious example of this with an entire unnecessary third act). And although this doesn't quite drag a 2:15 runtime for this type of film is a bit much.

The other issue is one of subject, this is certainly consistent in Apatow's oeuvre, a young troubled Peter Pan finding his way but that narrative, which because of Apatow has basically become it's own subgenre, isn't as fresh or exciting as it once was.

Currently available for rent on most VOD platforms.

Rent It.