THE KING OF STATEN ISLAND
OUT 16 JULY CERT MA15+ / 137 MINS
DIRECTOR Judd Apatow
CAST Pete Davidson, Marisa Tomei, Bill Burr, Bel Powley, Maude Apatow
PLOT Depressed wannabe tattooist Scott (Davidson) — 24 years old and living at home with his mum Margie (Tomei) in New York’s Staten Island — can’t get over his father’s death, 17 years after the fact. Having never moved on, his life is in stasis. Something has to give.
IN LAST MONTH’S , Judd Apatow said that he increasingly wants to hit, ) and James L. Brooks (, ). Films that are as dramatic as they are funny. But Apatow’s films have never been mere comedies (not that there’s anything wrong with ). His first, , was broad and bawdy but enormously sweet, and all of his films since — from to — have gone for tears as well as laughs. His latest, , though, takes itself that little bit more seriously. Even if it does feature a cat tattoo with its owner’s belly-button standing in for the bumhole.
