Starring: Pete Davidson, Marisa Tomei, Bel Powley, Maude Apatow, Bill Burr
Director: Judd Apatow
Release date: 12th June 2020 on demand
Scott Carlin (Pete Davidson) is a twenty-something guy, living in Staten Island with his mum and sister. He spends his days mostly hanging out with his friends and smoking weed. He has dreams of becoming a professional tattoo artist but has no joy getting work anywhere. He ‘practices’ on his friends but they’ve all had enough of being used as canvases. A few years ago his father (a firefighter) died on a job and Scott has never really gotten over the loss. A chain of events soon begins that will change Scott’s view on the world he lives in.
Pete Davidson is probably best known for being a cast member of the hugely successful ‘Saturday Night Live’ from 2014 and dating/ very briefly being engaged to the singer, Ariana Grande.
‘The King of Staten Island’ is a semi-autobiographical movie, based partly on Pete Davidson’s own family story. His dad was a New York firefighter who died saving lives on 9/11 and Pete has addressed the fact a few times during his years at SNL.
Pete Davidson is definitely one of those guys that you either love or hate… always very outspoken, he is one of the youngest ever members of SNL and often uses sarcasm as a form of wit. Though I’m not a fan of Pete Davidson and his work, watching ‘The King of Staten Island’ wasn’t at all what I expected and I actually enjoyed it. A strong-ish story, you don’t ever really feel sorry for the character of Scott… you just want him to get off his arse and do something other than sponge off his mother.
That all being said, it’s a good solid movie which you should give a chance. Having now been released on demand, it would be very interesting to see how it would have done as a cinema release.
Overall: 7.5/10
