Dernier été à Staten Island

Having just gotten some very bad news from the doctors yesterday, I've been in a deep depression. I've been looking for movies to help bring me out of it. There's an awful lot of movies out there nowadays that are try-hards. Long gone are the days of Porky's and Meatballs. Once in awhile, you can find a great movie like Wet Hot American Summer, which was a blessing because they went on to have 2 small Seasons after the movie. But most movies are things like American Pie that really aren't that funny and then they go on to have a ton of sequels that just get less funny as you go. So when I saw Staten Island Summer, I very nearly flicked past it until I saw that it had Saturday Night Live alumni on it. Now I'm not familiar with any of the young actors, but there was one that played the maintenance man in this movie who I always thought was funny on SNL, so I gave it a chance. There was some spots what kind of dragged but every time it started to drag, they would drop in things like actors from The Sopranos or police officers that help them get booze because they're underage and it would just make me break out laughing! This movie is definitely what the doctor ordered!

Our main protagonist is the young man who's graduating high school and going on to college at Harvard, while his best friend is staying home with his parents. These two have worked as lifeguards at this really beautiful pool as soon as they were old enough to work and they've been swimming there all of their lives! So this is the last hurrah, and all of the lifeguards collectively being the same age one of the other ones is about to join the Navy, they decide that that closing weekend they were going to have a staff party. However the guy who is the manager is just a despicable human being just awful sexually harassing the guests to the pool, putting a out of order sign on a bathroom stall so he can have his own personal shall we say make out space for only himself. And he is taken the keys to the entire pool and they have to get those keys in order to have the party. So I'm not going to give you any spoilers because I really want you to watch this movie but I'm going to get into the positives and negatives.

The positives are definitely the acting. Everybody was very believable. It was thoroughly enjoyable the actors were very well cast! The script was GREAT! Other than a couple spots where things kind of slowed down, it was VERY well written, and I think most people who grew up in the 80's & 90's could identify with this at least in part! Camera work was great, I could find no flaws! For the negatives, I really can't say, other than a couple slow spots, because it was so thoroughly enjoyable that I didn't see any other negatives! OOOH! I SHOULD mention, this ISN'T family friendly, even though there ARE kids in it! There's A LOT of dirty jokes, sexual situations, and at least 1 topless female that I remember!

So, if you are looking for something to make you laugh, forget your troubles, and the kids aren't around, THIS is the movie for you!!!

It started out quite good. The first ten minutes in, I was very interested. But then it just got lazy...the writing was sloppy and careless. The acting wasn't very good. And the plot seemed like a worse version of Superbad. I'm 21 years old, and I'm basically the target audience for a movie like this. I've enjoyed almost every other summer comedy about partying, but this one was dragged out, corny, and just overall a bad movie. Give me my 2 hours back please...? I don't recommend it.

PS- Jim Gaffigan was hilarious.

PPS- The main character was not...at all.

What I loved most about this movie is the fact that it has the feel of a teen comedy about the beach, but despite the fact that the Island has a beach, they used a pool.

It has a feel of a teen comedy, despite the fact that most of the supporting cast were around when the 80s films this movie pays homage to came out.

But the whole supporting cast was funny, being some of Saturday Night live's best new talent(Cecily Strong and Bobby Moynihan) and a few alums(Fred Armisen and Will Forte). Also being produced by the guy who created SNL, Staten Island Summer is like the big sketch they could not pull off on a sound stage.

It's the age old tale of two boys trying to spend their last summer together before college trying to get laid, but set in a place nobody would have thought to set any movie, and pulls nothing back on what the Island is all about (Even including a role for Wu Tang's Method Man, a native of Shaolin)

Absolutely funny.

To paraphrase another reviewer and a line from the movie's opening narration, it's as if Caddyshack and Superbad had a love child. A very funny love child...

As you watch this movie, it's easy to pick out influences from other flicks. Jonah Hill type? Check. Michael Cera type? Check, but let's go with black hair so it's not obvious. And so it goes, even including a mumbling grounds-keeper a la Caddyshack. Mind you, these are not necessarily bad things. Considering I laughed myself silly quite a few times, I won't complain.

This movie was a refreshing change from the standard fare of late. It's just a silly comedy with barely enough plot to move from scene to scene. It's not a dreary underdog saga set in a dystopian future. It's not another overwrought superhero movie with a 45 minute CGI battle scene to fill up the running time once the creators ran out of ideas. And most thankfully, it's not an angst-filled critique of relationships. It's just a funny story. I wish there were more movies like this one.

The many supporting characters were great fun. Kate Walsh and Jim Gaffigan played their parent roles to deadpan perfection. The kid from Bad Grandpa played a great straight man (straight kid?) to the totally inappropriate influences of Fred Armisen.

Don't expect too much, but do sit back and enjoy a few belly laughs. And be thankful not everybody in Hollywood has given up on making light-hearted comedies.

7/10 - decently entertaining comedic coming-of-age with a fantastic cast