"From the director of Trainwreck, Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin" comes The King of Staten Island. This comedy-drama film directed by Judd Apatow, and written by Apatow, Pete Davidson, and Dave Sirus. Scott Davidson has been a case of arrested development ever since his firefighter father died when he was seven. He’s Now reached his mid-20s having achieved little, chasing a dream of becoming a tattoo artist that seems far out of reach. As his ambitious younger sister heads off to college, Scott is still living with his exhausted ER nurse mother and spends his days smoking weed, hanging with the guys—Oscar, Igor and Richie - and secretly hooking up with his childhood friend Kelsey. But when his mother starts dating a loudmouth firefighter named Ray, it sets off a chain of events that will force Scott to grapple with his grief and take his first tentative steps toward moving forward in life.
In late January 2019, it was announced that Universal Pictures would produce a new film with Apatow, written by Apatow, Davidson, and Sirus, and with Davidson to star. Davidson first came to Apatow's attention while working on Trainwreck (2015) after he was recommended by Amy Schumer, and he was cast in a cameo role in that film. The script was based in-part on Davidson's life, depicting what it might have been like if he had not become a comedian, and Davidson's father, who was a firefighter who died in the line of duty. Scott Davidson's unit, Ladder Company 118 in Brooklyn Heights, responded to the call to the World Trade Center after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. They were rescuing people in the Marriott World Trade Center Hotel when the tower collapsed on the building. Pete was seven years old. By early June, Marisa Tomei, Bill Burr, Bel Powley, Maude Apatow, Steve Buscemi, Pamela Adlon, Kevin Corrigan, Domenick Lombardozzi, and Moisés Arias were cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and took place in Staten Island. The film was originally scheduled for a March 13, 2020 premiere and June 19, 2020 release date, but both were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was initially set to play in about 100 theaters, mostly drive-ins, but ultimately its release was limited to video-on-demand.
The film stars Davidson, Tomei, Burr, Powley, Apatow, Buscemi, Adlon, Corrigan, Lombardozzi, and Arias. The cast are a complete delight. Davidson, who takes the lead role and co-writes here, delivers an attractively underplayed performance that makes his character's outrageous behaviour even funnier.
The classic comedy-drama formula is represented here without deviation, but the film works because it's all just a frame for Davidson's personality and charisma, which is rich and colorful enough to carry any plot, even unimaginative ones, to success. For the sections of its 136-minute running time that it focuses on Scott's personal foibles, the film is a good time at the movies. The film ultimately fails to match the remarkable, politically-informed comedic zeniths of Davidson's superb sketch series. But it still frequently impresses by further acquainting us with the radically refreshing transparency of Pete Davidson, actor.
Simon says The King of Staten Island receives:
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