'The King of Staten Island' Review

 
R: For language and drug use throughout, sexual content and some violence/bloody imagesRuntime: 2 Hrs and 17 MinutesProduction Companies: Apatow Productions, Perfect World PicturesDistributor: Universal PicturesDirector: Judd ApatowWriters: Judd Apatow, Pete Davidson, Dave SirusCast: Pete Davidson, Marisa Tomei, Bill Burr, Bel Powley, Maude Apatow, Steve Buscemi, Moisés Arias, Pamela Adlon, Jimmy Tatro, Colson Baker, Lou WilsonRelease Date: June 12, 2020 (Video-On-Demand)
Scott 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.
If there’s one thing I like about Judd Apatow as a filmmaker it’s that he knows how to bring out great performances from his stars. Nobody knew LeBron could really act until he played Bill Hader’s best friend in Trainwreck. Hell, nobody really saw a tender romantic side of Hader until Trainwreck. One of the best things about The King of Staten Island is the supporting cast and their performances apart from Davidson, especially Bill Burr. When Bill Burr is at 100% he’s unstoppable. He always cracks me up, so it’s a huge surprise to see him deliver a charming, tender performance. He truly displays his range as Ray, the fireman that Scott’s mom begins to date. He comes in as a hotheaded dad who has a genuine reason to be pissed off at Scott, but once he puts the moves on his mom and begins wooing her, you see his lighter side. Burr is surprisingly grounded and he delivers a standout performance. He drives the plot forward as Ray influences Scott’s mom and challenges Scott to get his life together. The scenes he shares with Davidson are often fun and the natural development of their relationship is good.English actress Bel Powley is great as Scott’s childhood BFF who he secretly F’s. Powley really nails the trashy Staten Island accent, which took me by surprise. We’ve seen her deliver a White trash country accent in White Boy Rick, a northeastern White American accent in The Morning Show, and now a White trash Staten Island accent, so you know she’s acting. Powley truly shines, as does Maude Apatow, who plays Scott’s sister who heads off to college and has to worry about her older brother being unable to take care of himself. It goes without saying that the movie is pretty funny. Like, I got some great genuine laughs throughout. The best jokes are very New York-based, like characters commenting about how people see Staten Island or discussing New York sports teams. Davidson is a fucking New Yorker through and through and some of the humor cuts deep. There’s a friggin’ joke about the Jets that took me out because of the accuracy. Thankfully, it doesn't have as much ad-libbing as I expected. Sadly, that doesn’t mean anything because Judd Apatow doesn’t know when to yell, “Cut!”
I have a self-appointed rule when it comes to reviewing comedy flicks where if your movie exceeds the runtime of two hours — because no comedy should ever be over two hours long — you automatically get a star deducted. I call it “The Apatow Rule.” If you’ve seen a Judd Apatow movie, you know exactly why I made up that rule. 
GET A FUCKING EDITOR! Get an editor who understands audiences and the medium of comedy films. This movie is 2 hours and 17 minutes long. There is no reason for this movie to be this long, especially when it’s telling a story that has been told ample times before. The genre of comedy has evolved. Those films don’t push the 2-hour mark anymore, and when they do, it’s because they actually have a story worth telling. The only movies that are excluded from this rule are Bridesmaids, Spy, The Big Sick, and Long Shot. Those movies have fully fleshed-out screenplays that don’t rely on constant ad-libbing as a smart, mature story is being told. 
I know this is supposed to be the Pete Davidson semi-autobiographical flick or whatever, in the same vein as Trainwreck or The Big Sick, but Trainwreck was Amy’s screenplay and The Big Sick was Kumail and Emily’s script. Both films were original and had fresh perspectives. The King of Staten Island is never the Pete Davidson movie it had the potential to be because it falls under all the trappings of the director’s previous fare. Despite coming from a place of unspoken grief, which I truly respect Davidson for, The King of Staten Island suffers from following the same formula as every man-child arrested development narrative, including the one that Davidson recently starred in. I expressed how great the supporting cast is outside of Davidson because they outshine him. If you haven’t seen the Hulu movie Big Time Adolescence, more power to you because the character he plays in that film is exactly like Scott. They’re both stoners who slack off with their friends — drug dealers who get involved with major crimes and act too immature for their own age. The only difference is that Scott is more of a morbid stoner millennial. He’s the glass-half-empty to Zeke’s (Big Time Adolescence) glass-half-full, but it’s still the same exact Pete Davidson performance. This is like the alternate-universe Big Time Adolescence except it’s solely focused on him and set in Staten Island.There are some real psychological mental issues going on with Scott that are addressed, yet they are pushed aside as he’s put on the same hero’s journey as every other man-child in comedy who doesn’t have his shit together. Even though this is from a millennial’s perspective, it’s still that generic brand of storytelling that we would see in a Will Ferrell or Jason Segal movie from the late 2000s/early 2010s. A film of this nature would’ve been acceptable in 2010 when Apatow was at his height but his filmmaking style has lost its flair and it’s frustrating how unaware he is of it. This movie could’ve been 110 minutes long because there are so many scenes and subplots that either go nowhere or that are only present to make you laugh but don’t contribute to the story at hand. The subplots are completely dropped halfway through without any rhyme or reason and, just like its lead, the film goes nowhere. You can easily spot areas where insignificant scenes could’ve been completely cut. Scott’s arc doesn’t even activate until the 90-minute mark, which is when the movie starts to become engaging. However, the fact that the movie gets better after 90 minutes pisses me off. By 90 minutes, I’m supposed to either see the climax ensue or watch as the movie wraps up. Thank God The Lovebirds was aware of its own mediocrity and kept it under 90 minutes. The King of Staten Island never fucking ends!
There are three credited writers — Apatow, Davidson, and Dave Sirus. The groundwork was there but the end product is so incohesive that even the laughs fail to compensate for the blandness of the story. And to make matters worse, the final act is completely rushed. This could’ve been an enticing character piece but Judd Apatow can’t ever seem to pass “The Apatow Rule.” I’m serious, Judd Apatow. Please hire a fucking editor, make a 90-minute comedy flick, or learn when to yell, “Cut!” We’re all getting older and evolving with the times and so should you.I'm happy that mediocre comedies such as The Lovebirds and The King of Staten Island are getting home releases because I know that seeing them in a theater would’ve brought my ratings down. Rating: 2.5/5 | 55%