The King Of Staten Island: Another Affable Apatow
Five long years after his last feature (which saw him switching lanes from narrative comedy to documentary), Apatow makes a triumphant return with his latest dramedy, The King of Staten Island. This "semi-biographical" take on actor and co-screenwriter Pete Davidson's life, who lost his firefighter father during the September 11 attacks and has had his own battles with depression, is Apatow’s most affecting film since 2009’s Funny People, and its powerful blend of humor and heart should win over just about everyone.
Scott (Pete Davidson) has been a case of arrested development since his firefighter dad died. He spends his days smoking weed and dreaming of being a tattoo artist until events force him to grapple with his grief and take his first steps forward in life.
Judd Apatow is a monolithic powerhouse within the comedy community, and while he had done a lot of excellent work behind the camera in both television and film early in his career as a writer and producer, it wasn’t until 2005’s Steve Carell vehicle, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, that he was firmly cemented as a integral figure within the comedy space. Since then, he’s gone on to write, produce, and direct a string of gargantuan hits that have taken his status to even greater heights. Just as he’d done previously with Carell and other comedic talents (like Seth Rogen, Amy Schumer, Pete Holmes, and Kumail Nanjiani), Apatow keeps with tradition of fictionalizing the real lives or personas of its protagonists to create an emotional anchor that comedic situations can branch off of.
With Davidson as the subject, Apatow riffs off his personal life and experiences to explore deep-seated trauma and how someone may transcend their grief. In typical Apatow fashion, Davidson’s Scott is a character who’s stuck in his life. Lost and wandering (or maybe floundering) in his stagnation with small (yet feasible) aspirations to one day become a legit tattoo artist, Scott quietly grapples for a way to become unstuck, to shed his dark, traumatic past, come to terms with his father’s passing, and find a better and brighter tomorrow. The film has heavier and more emotionally profound aspirations than your typical comedy — which is an aspect Apatow has already tried to incorporate in some capacity with varying degrees of effect. It’s no Big Sick by any means (which Apatow produced), but that’s the kind of emotional sincerity The King of Staten Island reaches for, and while it doesn’t reach the heights of The Big Sick, it’s a more impactful watch for wanting to wrestle with more.
Like all Apatow films, The King of Staten Island hinges on its performances to really land, and everyone involved does a pretty excellent job — except for Action Bronson, who felt like an unnecessary addition, but we’ll touch on this later. Davidson really excels as the charmingly scuzzy wannabe tattoo artist with daddy issues, creating a palpable empathetic connection and delivering moments of emotionally charged honesty that standout above the comedy. Buscemi is underutilized, but Marisa Tomei is as warm and effervescent as you’d expect her to be. Bill Burr’s performance was totally surprising and caught us off guard. We knew he had excellent comedic delivery, but his emotional scenes are just as fine tuned. His character creates a nice balance to Davidson, leading to a lot of solid moments between the pair.
Stylistically, there’s nothing to write home about since everything is built around the performances. Cinematographer (and frequent PTA collaborator) Robert Elswit gives the film a nice crisp, clean look, and combined with Apatow’s performance-centric direction, the pair successfully build and block most scenes to emphasize the performances and comedy. Narratively, the film feels a bit soft and unfocused one more than a few occasions. Particularly in its first half, it often seems to meander about looking for an angle to approach its weighty topics, making its 2-hour-plus runtime a bit unwarranted. The film’s third act unravels quite a bit before it finds the right note to close on, and it finds an interesting way to recontextualize its journey via a closing title card which features an image of young Pete and his dad.
Overall, The King of Staten Island is a quality comedy that seeks to explore areas that other comedies rarely venture. Its heart and humor burn with a sincerity that elevate the experience and allow it to sit with the viewer a bit longer than one would initially expect. It’s not perfect, and it takes a bit of time for it reach its destination, but it’s a comedy that really connects with any viewer who’s willing to sit all the way down with it.
Recommendation: If you like your comedies with heart, check out The King of Staten Island. It’ll warm your heart in between bouts of laughter.
Rating: 3.5 fire hose wake ups outta 5.
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