Staten Island Summer

It's nice to discover a really weird plot--plots can seem so stale, after a while--and I think I'm in luck.

"The King of Staten Island" concerns a young man, a bit like Pete Davidson. (The actor is Pete Davidson.) This guy is a mess and in pain; he is mourning the loss of his dad, and he has some psychiatric issues. Lost in a fog, he routinely mistreats the people around him, and things reach an early climax when he meets a kid in the woods. The kid wants a tattoo; he is just a kid. PD should know better, but he starts working with his tattoo needle, and the kid has a panic attack.

Permanently scarred, the kid runs to his father, who seeks vengeance. It's this quest that leads to a new romance--involving PD's mom--and, soon enough, PD is half-pursuing a shot at self-rehabilitation, through childcare errands.

PD walks and walks with his former victim, and these scenes are a bit cliched (think of Amy Schumer with her nephew, in "Trainwreck.") Cliched--but sweet. We watch PD quizzing the kid on his invented superhero: "Ice Flash? Why is ice a good superpower? What color is this guy's eyes? What color is ice? Which shade of blue?"

I'm not done with "King of Staten Island" yet, but I'm enjoying the awfulness of the protagonist (this is a bit of writerly bravery), and I'm always happy to see Marisa Tomei radiating her intelligence on the big screen. So I'm going to go ahead and recommend this movie.

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