This film was released direct to streaming last year due to cinemas worldwide being closed and it's a pity because it deserved a bigger audience. Like all Judd Apatow film's it runs way too long (137 mins. No comedy should ever be that long) but that ridiculous length allowed for character moments like this that might have been cut out of other films.
Scott (Pete Davidson) is a 24 year old waste of space smoking his life away in the Staten Island, New York City's forgotten borough and he blames his lack of motivation on his father's death as a child. He died in a firefighting accent and now to Scott's horror his mother is seeing another firefighter, Ray (Bill Burr) and him and Scott do not see eye to eye at all. An argument between them turns physical and both are kicked out leading them them both staying at Ray's fire station and it's on a night out with the guys from here that Scott learns the real truth about his father and it leads to him starting to deal with his demons properly.
A truly great moment. It feels so genuine. Friends shooting the shit, home truths, full on belly laughs and the realisation that fathers and sons are always far more alike than they might care to admit. Steve Buscemi once again stealing the show as Papa with a barely sketched character than he turns into a fully realised one and then Bill Burr giving us a line for the ages. It's just a perfect representation of those ultra rare nights out that you might be lucky enough to experience once or twice in your life where everything just starts slotting into space and making sense.
It's gains a whole other layer when you know that Pete Davidson's father Scott was a firefighter who died in the World Trade Centre on the 11th of September 2001. It's now a character battling his demons played by an actor who knows exactly what he's going through. Buscemi was once a firefighter before he became an actor and in the aftermath of the attacks he rejoined his old house, without seeking attention, and let the old muscle memory kick in again to help out in the recovery of bodies from the rubble. What felt real before takes on a whole new sheen of authenticity knowing all this.
If it passed you by it's worth a watch. If you've already seen it it's stands up to a revisit.
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