The King of Staten Island
Universal Pictures | Release Date (Streaming): June 12, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 50 Critic Reviews
Positive:
33
Mixed:
17
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
EmpireAlex GodfreyJun 9, 2020
With The King Of Staten Island, Apatow goes for the heart — but with lesser yuks than usual and a subdued lead, it all kind of drifts by. Within it, though, are moments of real vigour and fragility. Read full review
60
VarietyOwen GleibermanJun 8, 2020
If there were any lingering doubts that Pete Davidson has what it takes to be a terrific actor, this movie should dispel them. In “The King of Staten Island,” he holds the screen with his blinkered, scurrilous, and oddly innocent I did-what? personality, and for the first time he makes the sociopathic goofball he’s playing a fully dimensional presence. Read full review
60
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganJun 8, 2020
Like protagonist Pete Davidson, on whose life it is loosely based, The King Of Staten Island is a loping, amiable, sweetly-funny film, and yet you sometimes wish there was a bit less of it. Read full review
60
SlateSam AdamsJun 8, 2020
It has a loping, lowkey charm and doesn’t require too much of your attention, and the plot is predictable enough that you could miss substantial chunks of it and not lose your way. You’re in the passenger seat, and it’s a nice ride as long as you don’t care where you’re going. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJun 8, 2020
The King of Staten Island works hard to strike its own artful balance of humor and heartache, qualities that both seem permanently etched in Davidson’s face. Part of the movie’s inevitable fascination is the question of how much is made up and how much might be rooted in lived experience. Read full review
60
IGNKristy PuchkoJun 8, 2020
The King of Staten Island lumbers from one thread to another, seemingly uncertain over what it's about. Read full review
50
UproxxVince ManciniJun 18, 2020
Apatow’s movies are always notoriously too long, but this time it isn’t self-indulgence that’s keeping The King Of Staten Island over two hours (137 minutes, to be exact) it’s more a failure to choose between four or five different stock storylines. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJun 15, 2020
By the end, in truth, I found myself swamped by Scott, and wondered if he might have made more impact as a secondary character — maybe as a foil to his widowed mother, Margie, who is played to perfection by Marisa Tomei. Read full review
50
The New York TimesWesley MorrisJun 11, 2020
The King of Staten Island is one of those 10-block-radius life slices whose smallness and intimacy ought to be a virtue. But the movie seems afraid of itself. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreJun 10, 2020
The King of Staten Island shrinks Davidson down a little too much, to the point where his pathos and humor doesn’t blend with but actively gets obscured by his immaturity. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoJun 8, 2020
The problem with this frustrating, formless movie is that Davidson’s leading man simply isn’t that interesting, and the film that should chart his trajectory ends up stolen by the people around him. Marisa Tomei, Bill Burr, Pamela Adlon, Bel Powley, Steve Buscemi — I wanted to follow each of them to their own movies and leave this disappointing one behind. Read full review
50
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaJun 8, 2020
The King of Staten Island wants to balance sweetness with humor, but it never quite figures out the formula. Many of Davidson’s quips are pretty funny, but there’s nothing here that’s going to stick with you – the next great quotable comedy this is not. The pathos fairs a bit better, but here the problems of Davidson’s range become apparent. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJun 8, 2020
Apatow appears to have moved on from using airless domestic and urban comforts as backdrops, and that’s probably a good thing. But The King Of Staten Island’s patience-testing failings, however well-intentioned, suggest that for now, he’s only found a new way to lose the plot. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 8, 2020
We’re some 100 minutes into the picture before the grating, gauche Davidson — and his character, Scott Carlin — achieves “Well, we should cut the kid a break” status. Apatow pictures always run long, but here the thin laughs make us reach “All RIGHT already” far too soon. Read full review
45
Vanity FairRichard LawsonJun 8, 2020
The King of Staten Island is about growing and learning lessons—but not much is learned, and there’s little growth. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyJul 7, 2020
The movie sorely needs a tighter edit, and direction from Apatow that isn't so slapdash and sitcommy. Read full review
40
Total FilmMatt MaytumJun 8, 2020
Pete Davidson lacks the charm to make an insufferable protagonist likeable. Read full review
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