The King of Staten Island (Judd Apatow, June 12, 2020) Movie • Page 5

This is pretty damn good. Davidson is a solid dramatic and comedic presence. You get the sense this personal to him and he sells it well.

The real MVPs are Tomei and Burr. They’re both great and have some nice chemistry. The rest of the ensemble works together really well. Everything feels very lived in. You can almost see the heat and humidity of New York in the summer.

That said, it’s like maybe 25 minutes too long. Apatow has improved in a lot of trouble spots (way less improv, pop culture references, cinematography has improved over his earlier stuff), but he still can’t tighten up his movies. There’s glaring spots that can be taken out (too many montages, Maude Apatow’s character adds almost nothing to the story, an inspirational moment set to Explosions in the Sky is corny as hell).

But overall, very solid. I think this will age better than most of his movies (As much as I love 40YOV, it has not fared well over time.) Both Davidson and Burr could emerge as big stars out of this.

 

Just out of curiosity, how did you get a screener? I've been dying to see this.

I've always been a fan of Apatow's movies (I'm a Funny People defender), and a lot of my family is from Staten Island so this feels like something geared towards me.

 

I’m a member of a film guild.

He doesn’t really try and capture Staten Island a whole lot (not like NYC where “The city is like the main star” type thing). But I think it captures the spirit of the area.

I’ve enjoyed most of Apatow’s stuff, even if the length keeps me from rewatching it. I hate “This Is 40” though. It’s like hearing a rich person whine about how hard they have it.

 

I also don't like This Is 40

 

all I remember about This Is 40 is he somehow shoehorned Lena Dunham into it, oh right and Billy Joe shows up at some point

 

I remember Megan Fox was funny and Melissa McCarthy has some terrible extended comedic scene that she improv-ed, so it's just an unfunny torrent of profanity (and I enjoy her in the right context.)

 

wonder what it says about me that i still love 40YOV as much as i do. then again, it's arguably the only one of his that doesn't have his trademark length issue

 

I remember when it was first released on DVD, you could only find the director's cut, which is unnecessarily long and the new scenes add nothing to it. I remember showing it to my roommate after seeing it in the theaters and thinking "These scenes weren't in the movie."

The transphobic joke of the guys hiring a transgender sex worker for Carell and the "You know how I you're gay?" stuff has not aged particularly well, even taken in the context that Rudd and Rogen's characters were manbaby jerks. The cinematography is also really weird looking. But the whole ensemble is fantastic.

 

Yeah I remember "This is 40" is the one I hate. Would you consider this a comedy with dramatic elements, or a drama with comedic elements?

 

The first half of funny people is one of my favorite movies.

 

Drama with comedic elements for sure.

 

A bunch of Philadelphia Flyers are in This Is 40, which is all I remember.

 

I remember Paul Rudd says the word iCunt

 

no way

 

Everything until Eric Bana shows up is Judd delivering on every bit of promise hinted at over his career to that point and then the last hour is just so incredibly average. If he was Shyamalan it's totally the reveal in The Village moment where you realize the guy is just always going to be what he is.

 

40YOV came out right before my junior year of high school, and I’m pretty certain to this day it’s still the only movie I’ve walked out on, hah. Definitely a melodramatic overreaction, but yeah that even though parts of it grew on me over time it just has never really sat right with me

 

I definitely agree that the whole last like hour of Funny People is totally unnecessary. If it ended when they found out Sandler was better and they did that last show it would be my favorite movie Apatow has directed (instead it's Knocked Up, which I actually just rewatched a few weeks ago and I think totally holds up). They could even put the Leslie Mann stuff at the end but make it like a couple scenes instead of a third of the movie

Just the first half with the struggling comics and Seth under Sandler's wing is so great

 

All the Leslie Mann stuff in Funny People ruins the movie.

But This Is 40 is the only one of his movies I’d call bad. It sucks.

 

Funny People introducing us to Bo was very important

 

Raaaandy was also fun at the time. Obviously, all things considered, it hasn’t aged well.

I’m convinced any character played by Leslie Mann or his kids is automatically the weakest character. He makes them all shrews.

 

I don’t mind the idea of the Leslie Mann/ Eric Bana portion to show that Sandler got a second chance at life and initially did not change, and I like the very end where he meets up with Rogan and shows he’s trying. I just wish we would have got the 20 minute version of that idea instead of the hour long one

 

My big defense of Funny People comes from indiewire: Funny People Is Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow’s Underrated Masterpiece | IndieWire

Viewing it as Judd Apatow's The Great Gatsby makes it kinda work

 

i'm hearing there's a particularly funny batman reference in this...

 

i thought it was really good, there was many jokes that i wish i had been sitting in a full theatre to hear a hundred plus people react to

 

Is this super bill burry? Can’t stand that dude.