The King of Staten Island | 2020 | R | – 6.5.10

Why is “The King of Staten Island” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “language and drug use throughout, sexual content and some violence/bloody images.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of sex scenes and a couple of implied sex scenes, several kissing scenes and cleavage revealing outfits; a pharmacy robbery that ends with gunfire and the arrest of the robbers, a near highway accident, a man with a large bloody abdominal wound after a fight that we do not witness, a few tattooing scenes, and many arguments some ending with shoving and punching; a lot of marijuana use and references to cocaine use and other controlled substances; and 114 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A 24-year-old man (Pete Davidson) aspiring to be a tattoo artist is still grieving for his firefighter father, who died when he was only seven. Avoiding commitment and spending most of his time smoking weed with similarly aimless friends, his life becomes more complicated when his mother (Marisa Tomei) begins a serious relationship with a divorced firefighter (Bill Burr). Also with Bel Powley, Ricky Velez, Lou Wilson, Moises Arias, Carly Aquilino and Maude Apatow. Directed by Judd Apatow. [Running Time: 2:16]

The King of Staten Island SEX/NUDITY 6

 – A man and a woman have sex and we see him thrusting from behind her (his bare chest and abdomen are seen along with her bare shoulders) as she moans, squeals and climaxes; they talk in bed about her having climaxed and that he did not because he takes anti-depressants. After a date, a man and a woman go back to her house, into her bedroom and kiss a few times before the scene ends and sex is implied.
► A man and a young woman kiss at a party (it’s not clear if sex occurs). A man and woman kiss in several scenes, he brings her flowers, and they hug and kiss in one scene. A man and a woman lie in bed together after sex (we see the man wearing boxers that reveal his bare chest, abdomen and legs and the woman wears a bra and underwear that reveals cleavage, bare abdomen and back) and they talk briefly as she caresses his chest (sex is implied). A man and a woman kiss in a couple of scenes.
► A woman talks about her ex-husband being good in bed and describes his genitals in detail. People dance in a club scene. A man talks about how bedbugs procreate in graphic detail. A man asks his mother if another man slept in the house the night before (implying a sexual relationship) and the woman says, “Yes.” A woman tells her adult son that she is in a serious relationship with a man and the son becomes upset. A woman asks a man that has asked her out for coffee if he is flirting with her and he says, “Yes.” A man tells another man to tell his sister that he knows she’s his mother (he’s losing a lot of blood and seems to be delirious).
► A man and his younger sister argue about a party and she tells him not to sleep with her friend; he complains about being “me-tooed” about a remark he made to the other woman. Several people talk about a man having chlamydia and that he had no insurance and couldn’t afford the medication to treat it; he insists that he no longer has it. Three men tease another man about being “catfished” by a young woman he met online. A man argues with another man about the second man telling him to touch his genitals when he thought he had testicular cancer.
► Two women wear low-cut tops that reveal cleavage in several scenes throughout the movie. A woman wears low-cut dresses that reveal cleavage in a few scenes. A man lifts his shirt to reveal tattoos and we see his bare abdomen; one tattoo is of a cat with its anus as the man’s navel. A woman wears a crop top and shorts that reveal cleavage and partial bare abdomen and legs to the upper thighs (a portion of her bare buttock is seen as she walks away). A shirtless man is seen in a tattoo parlor chair (we see his bare chest and abdomen with several tattoos). A woman wears a low-cut camisole that reveals cleavage and bare shoulders. A man steps out of a shower with a towel wrapped around his waist (we see his bare chest and abdomen). We see a tattoo of a Casper-like ghost with an erect penis pushing up his sheet on a man’s back.

The King of Staten Island VIOLENCE/GORE 5

 – A man with a bloody abdominal wound pleads with another man to help him; he lifts his shirt and we see a large hole in his flesh spurting blood and the second man rushes him to the hospital. Three men break into a pharmacy at night, when a man discovers them and tackles one, punching him on the face; the man retrieves a gun and shoots at the robbers and a woman shoots one robber in the shoulder (we see a little blood), police officers arrive and the robbers are arrested.
► A man drives on a highway and closes his eyes while moving; when he opens his eyes he swerves to avoid stopped traffic and drives off the road, and then back on the road, clipping another vehicle before driving away unharmed. Firefighters report to a residential building in flames and we see them entering the building as windows blow out and flames rage; we see two people being helped out of the building with char on their skin but they seem unharmed.
► A man on a beach begins to give a 9-year-old boy a tattoo on his arm and the boy screams and tells him to stop (we see a line on the child’s arm). A man mocks another man seated in a tattoo chair and the second man lunges toward him asking if he has a “death wish” (the other man runs out of the parlor and onto the sidewalk unharmed). Two men argue bitterly, one kisses the other on the forehead and the second man head-butts him, they wrestle, one picks the other up and throws him in a swimming pool, they continue to tussle and one pins the other on the ground with his arms pulled across his chest as he screams; they are interrupted by a woman that yells at them and throws both out. After a shift at a restaurant the wait staff and bus people fight for their tips by putting on large Hulk gloves and punching each other until one is declared the winner and gets the container of tips from the night; this happens in two scenes, and the first time two men punch each other and one is punched in the face and then in the stomach while he is on the floor, and the second time one man punches the other man once in the face and he falls hard to the floor (no blood is seen in either fight). A man slaps himself on the forehead repeatedly and humorously until he knocks himself out while a young woman talks to him (he’s seen uninjured later).
► Four men plan to rob a pharmacy for drugs that they can sell. A man yells at another man (a stranger) when he finds him sleeping in his backyard. A man yells at another man and his mother after the man attempted to tattoo the first man’s young son. A woman tells her adult son that he should move out of the house and get his own apartment by a certain date and they argue. A woman tells her adult son that she is in a serious relationship with a man and the son becomes upset and yells at her. A woman yells at a man for not being jealous that he came to a restaurant where he works with another man.
► A man gives another man a tattoo on his arm and he complains about the pain; the tattooist talks about hitting a bone while tattooing and that it causes you to jolt. A man allows another man to practice tattooing on his back and we see numerous tattoos; he tells him not to do specific things or “I’ll kill you.” A man throws a knife at a target in an abandoned area until a security guard approaches and tells them that they have to leave or he will call the police; they argue with him. A man uses a baseball bat to break up items in his room, and then storms out slamming the door behind him. A man smokes a cigarette outside a firehouse and he puts the lit cigarette in his mouth when firefighters walk by; he yells in pain after they pass. Men dump water on another man sleeping on a sofa and later spray him with a firehose to wake him up.
► We see a man in prison and he tells another man visiting him that he has to feed his cat while he’s locked up. A man talks about a date he has tattooed on his arm and says that it is the day his father died while other people in the room tease a woman for asking him about it; we hear later that he was a firefighter and that he died in a hotel fire when the roof collapsed. A woman yells at her two adult children over the phone while they argue. A woman tells her adult son that he should not smoke marijuana before a party and she says that a man attending the party is a cop. A boy comes to a basement window and asks to buy Xanax from four men inside; the boy says that he stole the money from his mother’s purse. A young woman says that her older brother dresses like he sells crack under a bridge. A man talks about an ICE raid taking away several of his restaurant staff. A man says that college is a scam and lists a number of people who went to prestigious colleges and then went on to do wicked things (serial killings, the Unabomber, Donald Trump and Bernie Madoff). A young woman tells her older brother to, “Be nice to mom,” as she leaves for college. A man says, “I’m probably gonna hurt myself.” A man tells other men, “I regret my friendship with you guys.” A man says, “I almost slit my throat.” A man says, “I broke my resolution,” when he lost his temper and yelled at a woman. A woman says that what her son did to a man’s young son was the “second worse thing he could have done to a kid in the woods.” A man and a woman yell at a man bussing tables in a restaurant. A woman asks a man, “What’s wrong with you?” A man talks about “killing baby Hitler.” A woman says that she hates her ex-husband. A woman talks about her ex-husband not wanting to have custody of his children. A woman says that her ex-husband lost all their money gambling. A man says about his mother, “She lost her mind.” A man tells firefighters that they are being selfish if they have children. A man wakes another man to tell him he can’t sleep and the second man tells him, “Dip your weed in Nyquil.” A man tells another man, “Hit the bricks.” A man and woman argue briefly. A woman laughs at her adult son when he seems to be asking to come back home and she pushes him out the door and closes it on him.
► A movie on TV shows a man being shot as he enters a room and blood splatters on the wall behind him. A boy in a school nurse’s clinic vomits on his shirt (we see goo on his mouth). A man spits in a loaf of bread at a restaurant and another man tells him there are better techniques, like using the anus (we see saliva leave the man’s mouth). A man talks about suffering from Crohn’s Disease and describes the symptoms in graphic detail. Several people are shown with multiple tattoos on their chests, abdomens, backs, arms and necks. A man talks about bedbug infestations. A man talks about how bedbugs procreate in graphic detail.

The King of Staten Island LANGUAGE 10

 – About 114 F-words, 2 obscene hand gestures, 21 sexual references, 46 scatological terms, 27 anatomical terms, 17 mild obscenities, 1 derogatory term for African-Americans, name-calling (you’re a mess, crazy, idiot, overpaid crybabies, gross, fake cops, fat Kanye, stupid, animal, sick, out of control, bro, putz, loser, terrible, lost, creepy, dumb, freeloading animal, rude, psychopath, degenerate, robbers, coked out, cokehead, drug addict, schmuck, small guy, homeless, pale, maniac, complicated, rusty, snitch, pasty, lunatic, nuts, Pop, weirdo, selfish, nonsense, weasel, out of line, weird, mean, American Nightmare, dope), exclamations (ew, yo, oh jeez, lighten up, oh no, my bad, friggin’, calm down), 2 religious profanities (GD), 22 religious exclamations (e.g. God, Oh God, Oh My God, Jesus Christ, Jesus, God Knows, Lord And Savior, Thank God). | profanity glossary |

The King of Staten Island SUBSTANCE USE

 – Several men are shown smoking marijuana in numerous scenes from marijuana cigarettes as well as vape devices and homemade bongs, a man asks other men if they still get high (while they are smoking marijuana), a boy buys Xanax from four men through a basement window, people smoke marijuana in a club scene, a man asks a teen boy at a party if he has any weed and the boy says yes (we do not see it), a man and woman talk about him being on anti-depressants, a man smokes marijuana in a woman’s home, a woman says that her son’s first tattoo (at age 16) was of Kermit the Frog smoking a joint, men talk about some of their group using cocaine, a woman describes her husband as “trippin’ all the time,” several men smoke marijuana and drink beer on a beach, and a man says, “That’s why I smoke weed all the time.” People drink champagne at a party, a woman drinks wine in her home, people in a club drink shots and beers, two women drink glasses of wine in a woman’s home, people drink in a bar scene and we see several men drinking a lot, and people drink beer and wine at a dinner. A man smokes a cigarette outside a firehouse and he puts the lit cigarette in his mouth when firefighters walk by (he yells in pain after they pass).

The King of Staten Island DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Death of a parent, mental illness, bipolar disorder, fear, relationships, ADD, bravery, consequences, the American Dream, heroes, encouragement, constructive criticism, lack of self-esteem.

The King of Staten Island MESSAGE

 – You need to reconcile with pain and trauma if you’re going to let others into your life and move on.