The King of Staten Island

 2020, d. Judd Apatow - Crave

I want to bristle against the label of being a guy who likes Judd Apatow films, but I usually do like his films.  Though they do have broader appeal, they're kind of tailor-made for my demographic (hetero, male, white, born in the mid-60's through mid-80's, a-little-but-not-too nerdy). I initially resisted seeing this Pete Davidson vehicle not because I dislike Pete Davidson, but because he's become his own unfortunate punchline, rather unfairly. 

I've been watching Davidson on Saturday Night Live for years, but it seems like between the summer of 2019 and the summer of 2020 the world went into Pete Davidson overload, and suddenly we were besieged with his dating life, cast strife, and emotional well being.  Not that we shouldn't have empathy for the latter, but after so much of the first two I wasn't sure I was ready to see a Davidson-starring movie.

But this film does incredibly right by Davidson, showing both exhaustion with and sympathy towards him. Mental health issues, crones disease, substance dependency, childhood trauma, and lack of self esteem are all part of this complex picture of Pete Davidson, acting as "Scott", a role that is ostensibly a Pete Davidson-type. It also paints him with a good heart, a cracklingly dark sense of humour, and a general sweetness that seems authentic to both "Scott" and Pete.

Scott, 24, lives in his mother's basement, where he generally hangs out with his friends, smokes weed and plays video games.  His younger sister has graduated high school (something he never did) and is off to college (though completely worried about Scott's well-being in her absence).  He has artistic skill and aspirations to be a tattoo artist but his attention wanders leaving his end results a monstrous mess.  He's sleeping with one of his friends, but refused to commit to her, noting that he likes being with her but feels she can do better.  His mom (Marisa Tomei) starts dating a new guy (Bill Burr), a fireman like his father, which brings Scott's neglected feelings about his deceased dad to the forefront.  Things kind of erupt between them and both men are ejected from her life, and the pair wind up living at the fire house together with both men getting better perspective on each other.

It has a heartfelt attitude towards firemen (and women), the job they do, their comradery and their sacrifices (as well as acknowledging the sacrifices that their families must make). It also is a portrait of Staten Island life which is represented as kind of a good-hearted dirtbags with a sense of pride for their salted land. It's also serves as a slight examination of millennial stress and apathy, but that's at best a tertiary consideration.

The film is a long one, as most of Apatow's works have become, but it weaves through the portrait of Scott and the people around him almost in an episodic fashion, like it were four or five episodes of a half-hour dramatic comedy woven together.  The film moves through time awkwardly, hardly making clear how much time has passed from one scene to the next... sometimes it's a scene happening at the same time as the previous scene, sometimes it's taking place months later.  But there's a soft rhythm to this, gently tapping away in the background that smooths out the bumps, forgiving any narrative messiness. 

It's genuine, funny, and genuinely funny. It was a surprise even though it shouldn't be...these are the kind of films Apatow makes, and it's well cast with actors who all feel the vibe this movie is bringing. I think what surprised me most is this look at a struggling generation and how it's rather devoid of a lot of the juvenile humour we got out of the Rogen and Sandler years that preceded it.  It's got such a different tone to it.