Judd Apatow's The King of Staten Island (2020) is a comedy-drama about a young man who stopped growing up on the day his father died. Led by Pete Davidson, it spends well over two hours with a character who jokes his way around grief until life leaves him no room to keep doing it.
What is The King of Staten Island about?
Scott was seven when his father, a firefighter, died, and in many ways he has not moved since. Now in his mid-twenties, he still lives at home with his mother, a worn-out emergency-room nurse, and talks about becoming a tattoo artist without getting any closer to it. His days go to smoking weed and hanging around with his friends Oscar, Igor and Richie, while a quiet romance with his childhood friend Kelsey stays hidden. His younger sister, the driven one in the family, is leaving for college, which makes his own standstill harder to ignore. Then his mother begins seeing Ray, a loud firefighter, and that relationship sets off a string of events that pushes Scott to face the loss he has avoided and to take a first, unsteady step forward.
About the cast
Pete Davidson heads a large cast that includes Marisa Tomei, Bill Burr, Bel Powley, Maude Apatow, Steve Buscemi, Pamela Adlon and Action Bronson. The mix is notable: stand-up comedians alongside established dramatic actors, which matches a story that keeps shifting between jokes and something heavier. Judd Apatow directs.
Context & significance
The title places the story on Staten Island, and the setting matters, because this is a film about a specific neighbourhood life: firehouses, family kitchens and friends who have known each other since childhood. Listed under both comedy and drama, it moves at an unhurried pace across its 136 minutes, giving room to conversations and small setbacks rather than a tight plot. Firefighting runs through the story as both a job and a family legacy, since the profession that took Scott's father returns to his home through his mother's new partner. Themes of grief, delayed adulthood and the difficulty of accepting a parent's new relationship give the humour its weight. Viewers who like character-driven American comedies with an emotional core will find this a fitting choice, and it has been well received by audiences.
Watching The King of Staten Island on Ktime
The King of Staten Island is on K-Time with a Persian dub and Persian subtitles. K-Time serves the Iranian diaspora with a fully Farsi interface. Anyone can read this page; watching the film requires logging in to a K-Time account.