The King of Staten Island: Will Gompertz reviews Judd Apatow's film ★★★★☆
- Published
On the face of it The King of Staten Island tells a tale so familiar it's a cliché. A young man is struggling to come to terms with adult life. He smokes a lot of weed, hangs out with a crew of equally lost souls, and starts making some ill-advised life decisions. He's not an inherently bad lad: he loves his mum, he's nice to kids (mostly), and routinely disarms with his self-deprecating charms.
You know this story, you know this person.
If you're like me, it was you. Or, is you. Or, your brother. Or, one of your friends, or one of your children, or one of your friend's children, or one of your children's friends.
He is the Everyman in the male coming-of-age saga: a troubled, confused, angry, depressed, fragile dude looking for some direction and purpose - not that he'd ever admit it. There's a journey to be taken and that's the basis of the movie/book/play/song etc.
And so it is with The King of Staten Island, a 135-minute easy-paced film directed by Judd Apatow, now available on-demand. It is not genre-busting, or genre-defining, or genre-bending - it is a middle-of-the-road genre staple. Except for one thing…
Pete Davidson.
Pete Davidson goes on a deeply personal journey in the film
Pete Davidson is the movie's star.
He isn't middle-of-the-road. He's speeding along the charisma super-highway, turning heads with what looks like an old banger act but is in fact a finely-tuned, custom-made performance that not only brings the film alive, but gives it a heart and a soul. Whatever way you look at it, The King of Staten Island is his film.
Or put another way, Pete Davidson is The King of Staten Island.
The comedian and Saturday Night Live regular plays the lead role, he gives the stand-out performance, he co-wrote the script, and he has an executive producer credit. He was even born in Staten Island and still lives there, for goodness sake.
(L-R) Colin Jost, Michael Che and Pete Davidson on Saturday Night Live
And that's not all.
Davidson plays Scott Carlin, a drifting 24-year old wannabe tattoo artist who has yet to come to terms with the death of his firefighter father, killed in the line of duty when our pot-head protagonist was a boy. Scott's mental health is poor. He smokes too many joints, he lives with his mum, and he has chronic gut issues.
It is a biography that reads very close to Davidson's own life story (his firefighter father, also called Scott, died trying to save others as a 9/11 first responder).
Scott Davidson (Pete's father), was a firefighter who died while responding to the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001, and is described by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation as "a brave and fearless man who was very proud of his children"
Not exactly a stretch for Davidson the actor, then. I imagine there weren't a lot of "Hey, Judd, what's my motivation?" type conversations between lead actor and director. But, maybe, playing a fictional role largely based on your own back story is far harder than taking on the role of a totally different character altogether.
Pete Davidson is not Scott Carlin in the way that Larry David is a heightened version of himself in Curb Your Enthusiasm.
And yet, anybody who knows Davidson's stand-up work will see similar traits: the low-status schtick, the poking fun but not being mean - or being mean and then apologising afterwards. The dry delivery, the ill-fitting clothes, the off-beat persona. These characteristics are all evident in Scott Carlin, too, but somehow Davidson manages to shape him in such a way that the fictional character becomes so vivid it obscures the identity of the man playing him. That's not an easy trick to pull off.
Davidson does it with plenty of help from his friends. Fellow stand-up comic Bill Burr plays Ray Bishop, a straight-talking, shirt-tucked-in kinda guy, who provides a nicely weighted counter-point to Scott and his haphazard lifestyle. Ray has eyes for Margie (the excellent Marisa Tomei), the long-suffering mother of Scott and his preppy younger sister Claire (Maude Apatow). That's one love story.
Scott Carlin (Davidson) and his mum Margie (Marisa Tomei) have an emotional rollercoaster of a relationship
Scott doesn't have the easiest of times adjusting to his mother's boyfriend Ray Bishop (Bill Burr)
The other is between Scott and his girlfriend Kelsey, a young woman hell-bent on putting Staten Island on the hipster map. She is played by the British actress Bel Powley, who was one of the few good things about Apple TV's The Morning Show (buckle up, there's a second season on the way). She doesn't have many scenes, but those she is in are some of the best in the movie - there'll be an Oscar on her shelf one of these days.
There is also a very welcome cameo-plus from Steve Buscemi as Papa the fire chief, and a short but memorable appearance by Machine Gun Kelly in the guise of a tattoo shop owner.
Steve Buscemi plays Papa, the firefighter, who knew Scott's father, and in real life was a firefighter before becoming an actor, and then returned to volunteer after 9/11
Bel Powley gives an impressive performance as Scott's childhood friend and secret lover, Kelsey
Judd Apatow does a good job keeping all the moving parts in order, although the pace could be a bit slow for some. It wasn't a problem for me, it's not as if there's a whole load to do right now. What's more, you sense a looseness that allowed the actors room to explore and improvise, which gives the film an edge it might otherwise lack.
It also affords the viewer a chance to reflect while watching. And when you do, it becomes apparent The King of Staten Island is more than a run-of-the-mill genre movie. It is a brutally honest, first-person account of what can happen to a family when tragedy strikes. It's not hyperbolic or overly-dramatic. It's just sad and downbeat at times. It is not a new story, but it is well told.
And Pete Davidson is always worth watching.
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- Published12 June 2020
