Movie of The Week Review: The King of Staten Island
"Dude don't give him a tattoo, he's just a kid"
R 2020-Comedy/Drama, Run Time: 2hr 16mins
Can Be Seen On: Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Peacock, Youtube, Google Playstore, and Fandango at Home.
Movie Short Summary: Scott 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.
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!
Trivia Question #1: Which actor in this movie served as an actual firefighter?
(answers at the bottom of this review)
Welcome back everyone for another review! This past week’s movie, in case you missed the preview, was The King of Staten Island, directed by Judd Apatow and starring Pete Davidson, Marisa Tomei, Bill Burr, and a bunch of other great cameos by Steve Buscemi, Action Bronson, and other comedians like Jessica Kirson, Rich Vos, Keith Robinson, and more. It’s a somewhat biographical film loosely based on Davidson’s life, sharing similarities with his character Scott Carlin, who battles mental health issues, the loss of his firefighter dad, and even has Crohn’s disease. Davidson aimed to depict what his life could have been like if he hadn’t ventured into comedy.
From the get-go, we see Scott teetering on the edge, struggling with his mental health. In a nail-biting scene, he closes his eyes while driving, leaving his fate up to God. After what feels like an eternity, he narrowly avoids a slowdown on the road, giving us a heart-pounding start. These intense moments hit close to home, reflecting the urge to let go when life feels overwhelming. Scott's journey through this darkness and the stagnation of his life is relatable for anyone who’s ever felt stuck.
The beginning of the film is a bit slow, setting up who Scott is, who he hangs out with, and his daily routine—mainly smoking weed with his friends. The plot kicks off when Scott decides to practice his tattooing skills on a random 9-year-old kid. Yup, you read that right.
Trivia Question #2: How many real life relatives of Pete Davidson and Judd Apatow appear in this film?
The next day, Scott’s mom, Margie (Marisa Tomei), gets a knock on the door from an enraged Ray (Bill Burr), demanding retribution for his son’s impromptu tattoo. Margie offers to pay for its removal, leveraging her hospital job for a discount. Ray cools down, finds Margie attractive, and asks her out for coffee. Their awkward flirting is pure gold, and you can’t help but root for this unlikely couple navigating new territory—Ray’s fresh from a divorce, and it’s Margie’s first date since Scott’s dad passed.
Over the course of the movie, we see Scott trying to dig up dirt on Ray only to backfire and get them both kicked out of the house and Margie’s life. With nowhere to go, Scott turns for help to Ray to stay at the firehouse, which to me we get to see some of the best parts of the movie with Scott getting a chance to experience what his dad did by being apart of the fireman brotherhood and bond with not only Ray but the rest of the crew. Ray even starts to let Scott tattoo him and use him as a canvas for all of his ideas. After an accident and helping out a stranger to the hospital, Ray and Scott run into Margie where they all reconcile and we get to see the reveal of all the terrible tattoos Scott did with the exception of one on Ray’s left shoulder. It’s a sketch of the three of them as well as Scott’s sister Claire with his dead father to the right with the sun behind him basically looking down on the four of them from heaven. The moment wraps up what the audience has been wanting the entire time and getting to see how far Ray and Scott have come to finally be like family.
I have mixed feelings about this movie because there are some home run moments that you can really connect with especially when it comes to mental health as we see Davidson at his best showing a full range of emotions from being manic on the call with his sister talking about how its all Ray’s fault that he was apart of a robbery and getting kicked out, or the anger and disdain he has for fireman due to his dead’s death, and the guilt he feels for what seems like being a burden on the rest of his family being a 24 year old living at home with no ambition outside of a tattoo restaurant. As much as you feel for him, you also hate him throughout the movie as he becomes a dickhead trying to ruin his mom’s happiness as well as the poor decisions he makes. The negative aspects of this film is the length as I didn’t see why it needed to be this long at all, as much as some of the acting was well done amongst the main cast, the supporting actors were ehh or terrible. This was also the type of movie a trailer ruins because as much as there are some funny punchlines throughout, most of them you see in the trailer already. Then there is a problem of the pacing for things to get really good like him working at the firehouse and watching him hear real stories about his dad being coked out to the ending. We see Scott surprise Kelsey (who was fantastic if Scott was the King of Staten Island-she would be the queen), who was on her way to a civil exam and we see a cute moment as he is there to support her and suddenly she forgives him and they seem to be getting back together. It was a weird way to wrap things up instead of showing Scott actually follow through on his own dreams and ambitions by becoming an apprentice at a tattoo shop instead it is him getting back with a girl, who he wasn’t totally interested in the beginning of the movie.
Trivia Question # 3: The movie’s soundtrack begins and ends with songs from what artist?
OFFICIAL SCORE: 6/10
Like I said I am back and forth on this movie a lot and I feel like the score reflects that as I wanted to give credit for how relatable it was in terms of dealing with heavy topics like the death of a family member, feeling lost and not knowing what to do with your life, to depression and anxiety. But there are a decent amount of drawbacks like what I mentioned previously that keeps it from really standing out and being a memorable movie. It was enjoyable once things got going but I wouldn’t blame anyone for not giving it the chance to. Well there you have it! What did you think about the movie and would you recommend it for a friend? Let me know in the comments and don’t forget to subscribe and be on the look out for the next movie of the week preview!
TRIVIA ANSWERS:
#1-Steve Buscemi, who plays the veteran firefighter Papa in this movie, really did serve as a firefighter for a period during his early 20s. In a 2000 Salon interview with Stephen Lemons, Buscemi said he was with Engine 55 in Manhattan's Little Italy neighborhood from 1980 to 1984, when he quit to pursue acting full-time. (Source: IMDB)
#2-3, Scott’s grandfather is actually Pete Davidson’s grandfather, Stephen. Pete’s younger sister, Casey, also appears in the movie as Carla, Igor’s real girlfriend in the prison scene. As for the final relative that appears in this film, Judd Apatow’s daughter Maude plays Claire (Scott’s sister). (Source: Tvtropes.org)
#3-Kid Cudi (Screenrant.com)