Welcome back to another issue of Your Movie Mage, where I discuss underrated movies across genres. Last week, we discussed the underrated film following a struggling folk musician played by Oscar Isaac, “Inside Llewyn Davis.” This week, we’ll be talking about the lesser known, albeit well-received, Pete Davidson movie, “The King of Staten Island.”
Pete Davidson and Judd Apatow create a film that captures Davidson’s life and complex emotions as he plays a character with a similar life story to himself named Scott. Despite the main character being based on himself, he didn’t fall into the trap of writing a protagonist that was flawless. In fact, he went in almost the complete opposite direction.
Apatow and Davidson created a character that made bad decisions, acted selfishly and wasn’t particularly nice. Yet, he was likable and I rooted for him. This is no easy task, but the directors did a great job on this movie.
“The King of Staten Island” also has a great balance of comedy and more serious moments. Even if you aren’t a fan of Pete Davidson’s comedy style, you should still give this movie a watch, as the characters and story are very interesting and well developed. Each character feels real, and there’s bound to be at least one character you like or relate to.
The film explores self-responsibility and how to operate in the world, especially when you’re suffering from mental illness, like Davidson and his character Scott. Davidson has spoken publicly about his diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and how it impacts him and his life. Such a complex disorder can be difficult for people to understand, but this movie does a great job of compassionately portraying someone with the disorder.
The vulnerability by Davidson in his portrayal of Scott sets this movie apart. As a semi-autobiography, there are many scenes that show how personal the story and feelings are to Davidson, making the movie feel more grounded and realistic.
Likewise, I think they did a very good job handling the difficulties in parenting. For example, a common challenge arises when trying to encourage your child to follow their dreams while not encouraging dependence.
The mother struggled with this balance in the film, previously giving Scott too much leeway and allowing him to coast by, living rent free in her house with no job. This prevented him from being pushed to follow his dreams and make the changes he needed to make. One could also argue she went too far in the other direction out of anger, kicking him out completely. It was only by pure luck that he had connections to the fire department and was able to stay there in exchange for work. Ultimately, this led to Scott figuring out his life and understanding the perspective of others. Bill Burr did a great job portraying a father figure for Scott who learns to love and encourage him too.
The dynamic between Scott and his sister, Claire, played by Maude Apatow, was particularly interesting too. He was older than her, but she felt more responsible for him. She felt she had to look after him and was constantly concerned for him. Claire recognized that he, being the older brother, should be looking out for her. She felt anger over her concern, which added complexity to her character. Scott felt like a failure compared to her, especially since he’s older and feels like she’s more accomplished.
The film also explores Scott’s friendships and budding romantic relationship with his childhood friend, Kelsey. He consistently pushes her away and explains it’s because he doesn’t want to hurt her, which is a poor excuse, though it works well in the film.
We have a good sense of who Scott is and how he views himself. Scott believes those who know him are worse off, but he also uses this to justify taking advantage of others. He loves Kelsey, but he uses her throughout the film, sleeping with her and leading her on, knowing she wants more out of the relationship. He then uses her for shelter after being kicked out. Scott’s development in this relationship represents one aspect of his development across the film.
Scott learns to recognize that it’s better to accept love than keep people at a distance, as they’ll love him regardless and it only hurts them more to be kept away. Beyond that, Scott realizes that doing so only benefits him and it’s more selfish than perhaps he previously realized.
We get a very happy ending in this film, which ends with a positive message of growth. I like that his goals in terms of employment and becoming a tattoo artist aren’t used to show his growth or development. In the end we don’t know what he’ll be doing, but it doesn’t matter because it’s clear that Scott will figure it out with his newfound independence.
Overall, this film does a great job of balancing the story, characters and comedy. I give this movie an underratedness score of 4/5, as I’ve seen mixed reviews, but most of them do not seem to fully appreciate the story. It’s not a perfect movie, but I do think it deserves more attention and love.