The King of Staten Island — Watermelon Margaritas — Quibi
Hot town, summer in the city / Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
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Now Showing: The King of State Island (2020)
It turns out Pete Davidson is a man of many talents. He’s a funny, albeit inconsistent, presence on Saturday Night Live, but he’s probably best known for his blink-and-you-missed it engagement to Ariana Grande and his mental health problems. Yet if his first feature film, The King of Staten Island, is any indication, he is possessed of greater emotional and creative depth than one would expect based on his track record up to the present. Directed by Judd Apatow and with a script by Davidson, Apatow and former SNL writer Dave Sirus, The King of Staten Island was originally intended for national theatrical release before the coronavirus sent it video on demand instead. It remains to be seen whether this is a good thing for the film. On the one hand, audiences may be more likely to pay the $20 to stream the film now than to shell out multiples of that at the movie theater. On the other, the marketing blitz for the movie was muted and without the strength of multiplexes to promote it, many people may be unaware of its release.
The movie follows a year or so in the life of Scott Carlin, played by Davidson, a 24-year-old aspiring tattoo artist and pothead living with his mom in Staten Island. The character is clearly a proxy of sorts for Davidson himself, but the story is more than a remix of his own life in New York’s forgotten borough. The basic strokes of the story are that Scott never got over the death of his firefighter dad—there’s a shrine to him in living room—and when his sister leaves for college, he convinces a neighborhood 10-year-old to let him practice tattooing on him. That obviously doesn’t go as planned, and the kid’s father—a firefighter named Ray (comedian Bill Burr)—shows up at the house. Rather than getting Scott in trouble, though, Ray winds up falling in love with Scott’s mom Margie (Marisa Tomei). Scott can’t handle it and thus begins his descent to rock bottom and slow climb back up to real adulthood.
There’s a drug heist gone wrong, some failure to connect sexually, a lot of funny dialogue and awkward family dinners, and a brawl in an above ground pool. Scott winds up living with the firefighters in Ray’s crew after breaking up his relationship with Margie. Finally, Ray and the fire chief (Steve Buscemi) tell Scott about their time working alongside his dad. It’s a breakthrough moment for Scott who learns a bit about the fallibility of people in general and the father he idolized in particular. In the end, the movie is about isolation—both Scott’s and Staten Island’s—but also about how people can connect just through proximity and time.
The movie is most interested in normal people navigating a difficult period in their lives. There are no pyrotechnics (besides the obvious ones in a firefighter’s line of work), no special external threats, and no hidden powers or surprise twists. Indeed, it would almost be a neorealist comedy (if there is such a thing), were it not for Davidson’s quirky take on Scott. He wants to be a tattoo artist, but he’s bad it. He has an idea for a business, but it’s terrible. He has a girlfriend who loves him a lot, but he doesn’t know how to handle that. It’s funny and a little poignant throughout. It’s also the perfect movie for right now: The King of Staten Island is fundamentally about a family dealing with hard times and tough personalities. Davidson, Tomei and Burr deliver sweet and heartfelt performances—and lots of laughs—and the end result is a surprisingly moving and memorable film.
The King of Staten Island is available to rent on various streaming platforms for $19.99 including Amazon Prime Video and YouTube.
Care for a drink?
It’s peak summer, and all that means it’s time to cool off and chill out. With coronavirus still creeping around, that means you’re more likely to be in the backyard than on the pool deck, but it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a fruity drink all the same. Why not enjoy a watermelon margarita this weekend?
Watermelon Margarita
In a blender, combine:
3 oz. tequila (lately I’ve been enjoying the Espolon Reposado)
2 oz. lime juice
1 oz. simple syrup
A splash of Triple Sec to taste
Watermelon to taste (about 2 cups)
Serve over ice with a slice of lime and salt on the rim of the glass. Enjoy!
Reading List:
Quibi was a $1.75 billion bet that people would pay a monthly subscription to watch high-budget short-form streaming video. Hollywood A-listers were lining up to do shows with the service. Then it flopped. Vulture’s play-by-play of the disaster is delicious, though.
Scientists now believe that the eruption of a volcano in Alaska may have contributed to the fall of the Roman Republic. The Times has the details.