Stop me if you’ve heard this one: a lovable loser in a state of perpetual arrested development. A group of friends that love and support, but are probably holding him/her back. A good girl/guy, offering up a real relationship. A new, better life, if they’d only grow up a little.
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This is the story of “The King of Staten Island,” the new film by Judd Apatow. It is also, at its core, the story of most of Apatow’s previous directorial efforts – “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up,” “Funny People,” and “Trainwreck” are also basically the same narrative, and it’s also, with some minor alterations, the through-line of several projects he’s produced, including “Girls,” “Bridesmaids,” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” As both a producer and director, he’s taken to showcasing rising talents, often writing his films in collaboration with the performer in question (‘Staten Island’ continues this tradition, with a script co-written by star Pete Davidson). But at this point, it’s worth asking why he seeks to boost so many new voices when he’s apparently just going to flatten their work into his existing formula?
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Davidson stars as Scott, a character based on himself – a Staten Island native and manic depressive stoner, whose firefighter father died in the line of duty (in real life, Davidson’s father died on 9/11, a specific that is wisely altered here). He still lives at home, with a mother (Marisa Tomei) who hasn’t had so much as a date in 17 years; he doesn’t have a job, and spends most of his time in his friends’ basement, smoking weed and playing video games (these sections bear an uncanny resemblance to “Big Time Adolescence,” Hulu’s recent Davidson vehicle).
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“I love it here, it’s safe,” Scott says offhandedly, a telling aside if there ever was one. But things are changing in his life: his sister (Maude Apatow) is heading off to college, his prolonged adolescence is no longer cute, and his mom is dating for the first time. Her new beau is a firefighter named Ray (Bill Burr), and Scott, as he puts it, is “not cool with any of this!” Mental illness is a tricky subject to render onscreen with any kind of sensitivity; the nuances are hard to put across, and ditto the difficulty someone like Scott has processing real human interactions with other people. Perhaps the most impressive element of the script – by Apatow, Davidson, and Dave Sirus – is the honesty with which it both addresses both his very real struggle and the degree to which he can use it as an excuse (“I need that safety net because I don’t have my shit together!”).
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Bel Powley provides a romantic interest of sorts, as Scott’s long-time friend and occasional, secret hook-up. “You deserve somebody way better than me!” he assures her, but she’s not convinced; “You’re a good guy, I like you,” she tells him, and says it with a little laugh to cover up how fleetingly real she’s being with him. Powley, so good in “The Diary of a Teenage Girl,” is delightful here, managing to transcend the prescriptions of the role and land some good zingers (pay special attention to the little pause when she asks him, incredulously, “Did you just fuck me… for shelter?”)
Apatow also manages to harness the specific, manic energy of Bill Burr, who is on fire here, while also creating a real, complicated character. The byplay between him and Tomei is genuine and sweet, rooted in the fact that these are two older people who are gun-shy, uncertain, and nervous, a reminder that we don’t see characters of this age dating all that often in movies. Burr also nails the tension of his scenes with Davidson, trying so hard to connect with this kid he doesn’t really like all that much, for the sake of the relationship. And though Pamela Adlon only has a couple of scenes as his ex-wife, she’s perfect; if Apatow can make a “Knocked Up” spin-off about Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann’s marriage, he can give us a prequel about Adlon and Burr’s.
Steve Buscemi also pops up as the captain of Burr’s firehouse, and while there’s not enough of him (and his bone-dry delivery), what we get is wonderful; he brings a natural gravitas to these scenes, thanks in no small part to his own time spent in the FDNY, and in one simple, lovely scene, he digs out the emotional center of the picture. And Davidson, whose appeal seems very specific, is nevertheless quite good here; he’s likable, offhandedly funny, and unsurprisingly real.
As you’ve probably heard by now, “King of Staten Island” runs 136 minutes, and this is not another complaint about the leisurely length of Apatow’s pictures – I like their shagginess, and how they let us hang out with their characters and live in their world for a while. If this viewer’s attention flagged in the third act, it wasn’t because of the film’s duration; it was because the familiar gears were grinding into place. We can once again enjoy the excesses of a manchild character, but the conservatism that infects all of Apatow’s narratives must eventually come into play, and it’s certainly understandable for the weary viewer to check out.
But what’s especially dispiriting, this time around, is that the film promises more. It opens with a remarkable pre-title sequence of Davidson on the highway, driving with a stern face, and listening to the radio; we’re joining him in the middle of something, and we’re not sure what. And then he closes his eyes and steps on the gas, a move of suicidal recklessness that nearly gets him (and several other drivers) killed, after which he stammers, to no one in particular, several consecutive “I’m sorry’s.”
It’s not clear why this opening exists, in the context of ‘Staten Island,’ because it’s not comedic, and it’s not feel-good. It’s not about a slacker who needs to pull up his pants and marry a nice girl and get a real job. It’s about a human being who is, in a very real and very scary way, broken and does not seem to be easily fixed. That’s the movie that Judd Apatow should have made, as the filmmaker’s storytelling formula is beginning to show its age and it’s unclear if he’ll ever get tired of using it. [B-]
“The King of Staten Island” will be available on Premium VOD on Friday, June 12.